1777.
Battle of Brandywine--Virginia Brigades--Burgoyne's Expedition--
His Surrender--Daniel Morgan--Washington at Valley Forge--
Frigate Randolph--Treaty with France--Clinton retreats--Battle
of Monmouth--General Lee--Anecdote of Colonel Meade--The Meade
family--Colonel Baylor--General Clarke.
IN the battle of Brandywine, which took place on the 11th of September,
1777, Sir William Howe again proved victorious; but the action was well
contested, and the loss on both sides heavy. The Virginia brigades,
under Wayne and Weedon, particularly distinguished themselves. General
George Weedon, before the Revolution, had been an inn-keeper at
Fredericksburg. The third Virginia regiment, under command of Colonel
Thomas Marshall, (father of the chief justice,) which had performed
severe duty in 1776, was placed in a wood on the right, and in front of
Woodford's brigade and Stephen's division. Though attacked by superior
numbers, the regiment maintained its position until both its flanks were
turned, its ammunition nearly expended, and more than half of the
officers and one-third of the soldiers were killed or wounded. Colonel
Marshall, whose horse had received two balls, then retired to resume his
position on the right of his division, but it had already retreated.
Among the wounded in this battle were La Fayette and Woodford. The enemy
passed the night on the field of battle. On the twenty-sixth the British
entered Philadelphia.
On the fourth of October occurred the battle of Germantown, in which the
American forces, by a well-concerted plan, attacked the enemy at several
points early in the morning. The British were at first driven back,
precipitately, toward Philadelphia, but at length made a successful
stand at Chew's house, garrisoned by five companies of the fortieth
regiment, under the command of Colonel Musgrave. Lieutenant Matthew
Smith, of Virginia, having volunteered to carry a flag of truce to
Chew's house, was mortally wounded, and died in a few days. The
Americans being thrown into confusion in a dense fog, Washington, when
victory had seemed to be almost within his grasp, was eventually
compelled to retreat. A British officer afterwards declared in
parliament that Sir William Howe had received information beforehand of
the intended attack. The ninth Virginia regiment and part of the sixth
were made prisoners. Colonel Matthews, after penetrating to the centre
of the town with his regiment, was made prisoner. Major-General Stephen,
who commanded the right division of the left wing, was cashiered for
misconduct on the retreat, and intoxication. The loss of the enemy was
heavy; and congress expressed its approbation of the plan of the battle
and the courage displayed in its execution, and the thanks of that body
were given to the general and the army.
In the mean time, at the north, Burgoyne, with a well-appointed army,
had advanced from Canada, in order to open a communication between that
country and New York, and to cut off New England from the rest of the
States. Washington, in a letter to General Schuyler, gave it as his
opinion that Burgoyne would, eventually, receive an effectual check;
that his confidence of success would precipitate his ruin; that his
acting in detachment would expose his parties to great hazard, and
prophetically adds: "Could we be so happy as to cut one of them off,
though it should not exceed four, five, or six hundred men, it would
inspirit the people."
After capturing Ticonderoga, Burgoyne moved toward the Hudson,
encountering continual obstructions in his route through a wilderness,
and harassed by the American troops. A strong detachment was overwhelmed
by Starke and his countrymen near Bennington, in Vermont. After a series
of engagements, in which he suffered a terrible loss, Burgoyne was at
length, on the 17th day of October, 1777, thirteen days after the battle
of Germantown, forced to surrender at Saratoga to Gates, who had shortly
before succeeded Schuyler. Among those who distinguished themselves at
Saratoga was Daniel Morgan, with his Virginia riflemen. He was a native
of New Jersey, son of a Welshman, and removed in his youth to Virginia,
about 1755, and made his living for a time by driving a wagon. In
Braddock's expedition, when about twenty-two years of age, he served as
a private, and was wounded. There is a tradition of his having been
severely whipped on a charge of contumacy to a British officer.[687:A]
For some years after he was twenty years of age he was addicted to
fighting and gambling; and the reputed scene of his combats, in Clarke
County, retains its name of Battletown. When the revolutionary war began
he was appointed a captain, and in command of a troop of Virginia horse
he marched thence in the summer, with extraordinary expedition, to the
American army at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Washington, who knew him
well, and had strong confidence in his bravery and patriotism, detached
him to join the expedition against Canada; and he exhibited his
accustomed courage at Quebec; and when Arnold was wounded the command
devolved on him. When Montgomery fell, Morgan was taken prisoner. While
in the hands of the British he was offered the rank and pay of a
colonel, but he indignantly rejected them. Exchanged in the following
year, he rejoined the army; and in command of a rifle corps rendered
signal service at Saratoga.
On the thirtieth day of October Gates' victory was celebrated at
Williamsburg by a _feu de joie_, joyful shouts, ringing of bells, and
illuminations; and all prisoners, except deserters, were discharged from
confinement; and a gill of rum was issued to every soldier. The troops
were reviewed by General Nelson, by the speakers of both houses of
assembly, and by many of the members. Governor Henry, by proclamation,
appointed a day of thanksgiving.
In December the American army encamped at Valley Forge, on the
Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. The winter was one of extraordinary
rigor; the soldiers destitute of clothing, and the hospitals filled with
the sick. To aggravate Washington's troubles a cabal formed a design at
this time of supplanting him, and making Gates commander-in-chief. But
Washington stood unshaken: the angry billows dash in vain against the
ocean rock, and fall in empty murmurs at its base.
In May, 1778, the American frigate Randolph, (so called in honor of
Peyton Randolph, president of congress,) carrying thirty-six guns and
three hundred and five men, sailed on a cruise from Charleston. The
Yarmouth, British man-of-war, of sixty-four guns, discovered her and
five other vessels, and came up with her in the evening. Captain Vincent
hailed the Randolph to hoist colors, or he would fire into her; on which
she hoisted the American flag, and immediately gave the Yarmouth her
broadside, which was returned, and in about a quarter of an hour the
Randolph blew up. Four men escaped upon a fragment of the wreck, and
subsisted for five days on rain water alone, which they sucked from a
piece of blanket which they had picked up. They were rescued by the
Yarmouth.[688:A]
Early in this month congress received despatches containing a treaty
between the king of France and the United States of America. In
consequence of Burgoyne's surrender and of the treaty with France, the
British army (under command of Sir Henry Clinton, who had relieved Sir
William Howe,) evacuated Philadelphia in June, 1778. Crossing the
Delaware, they marched for New York. Washington pursued them across the
Jerseys, and on the twenty-eighth of June occurred the battle of
Monmouth. The result was not decisive; many died from heat and fatigue;
the Americans remained on the field of battle, where Washington passed
the night in his cloak in the midst of his soldiers. It was during this
action that General Charles Lee retreated before the British, who had
turned upon him. He was met by Washington, who reprimanded him, ordered
the division to be formed, and, with the aid of artillery under
Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, checked the enemy's advance. General Lee
was arrested, tried, and convicted of disobedience of orders, of making
an unnecessary and disorderly retreat, and of writing disrespectfully to
the commander-in-chief, and suspended from the army for one year. Recent
developments strengthen the suspicion long entertained that he acted
traitorously. It is strange that, conscious of this, he should have
remained among those whom he had endeavored to betray. He had previously
been signally serviceable in the American cause; and at the time of his
suspension there were not wanting divers leading men who thought him
hardly dealt with. But a man is never better than his principles, and
General Lee's were bad from the beginning. La Fayette said that
Washington never appeared to better advantage than in this action, when
roused by Lee's misconduct.
Colonel Richard Kidder Meade, the father of Bishop Meade, was one of
Washington's aides-de-camp. The following anecdote relative to him is
taken from the Travels of Anburey, who was a lieutenant in the British
army, and in 1779 a prisoner of war in Virginia, and visiting the lower
country on parole: "On my way to this place I stopt and slept at
Tuckahoe, where I met with Colonel Meade, Colonel Laurens, and another
officer of General Washington's suite. More than once did I express a
wish that the general himself had been of the party, to have seen and
conversed with a character of whom, in all my travels through the
various provinces, I never heard any one speak disrespectfully as an
individual, and whose public character has been the admiration and
astonishment of all Europe." * * * * "The colonel (Meade) attributed the
safety of his person to the swiftness of his horse at the battle of
Monmouth, having been fired at and pursued by some British officers as
he was reconnoitering. Upon the colonel's mentioning this circumstance
it occurred to me he must have been the person that Sir Henry Clinton's
aide-de-camp had fired at, and requesting to know the particular color
of his horse, he informed me it was black, which convinced me it was
him; when I related the circumstance of his meeting Sir Henry Clinton,
he replied he recollected in the course of the day to have met several
British officers, and one of them wore a star. Upon my mentioning the
observation Sir Henry Clinton had made to his aide-de-camp,[689:A] the
colonel laughed, and replied, had he known it was the commander-in-chief
he should have made a desperate effort to take him prisoner."
The name of Richard Kidder is said to be derived from a bishop of Bath
and Wells, who was from the same stock with the Meades of Virginia.
Andrew Meade, first of the name in Virginia, born in County Kerry,
Ireland, educated a Romanist, came over to New York, and married Mary
Latham, a Quakeress, of Flushing, on Long Island. He afterwards settled
in Nansemond, Virginia, and for many years was burgess thereof; from
which it appears that he must have renounced the Romish religion. He was
prosperous, affluent, and hospitable. He is mentioned by Colonel Byrd in
his Journal of the Dividing Line run in 1728. His only son, David Meade,
married, under romantic circumstances, Susannah, daughter of Sir Richard
Everard, Baronet, Governor of North Carolina. Of the sons of David
Meade, Richard Kidder Meade was aide-de-camp to General Washington;
Everard Meade aide to General Lincoln. Richard Kidder, Everard, together
with an older brother, David, were educated at Harrow, England, under
the care of Dr. Thackeray. Sir William Jones, Sir Joseph Banks, and Dr.
Parr, were at the same time scholars there.
In June, 1778, Colonel Arthur Campbell wrote to the Rev. Charles
Cummings, of Washington County: "Yesterday I returned home, the assembly
having adjourned until the first Monday in October. The acts passed, and
a list of their titles, I here enclose, together with an address of
congress to the people of America, for you to publish, agreeable to the
resolve. I wish you could make it convenient to preach at the lower
meeting-house in this county, if it was but a week-day, as the contents
of the address are of the most interesting nature, both as to the moral
and political conduct of the good people of America. Providence is daily
working out strange deliverances for us. The treaty with France is much
more advantageous than the wisest men in this country expected. The
Indians the other day were unexpectedly discomfited on Greenbrier. I
think the overthrow was something similar to what happened in this
county about two years ago. I must give you the intelligence at full
length, as the most hardened mind must see and admire the Divine
goodness in such an interposition."
The Rev. Charles Cummings, by birth an Irishman, resided for some time
in the congregation of the Rev. James Waddell, in Lancaster, and
probably studied theology under his care. Mr. Cummings married Miss
Milly, daughter of John Carter, of Lancaster, and in 1773 settled near
where Abingdon now stands. His meeting-house was of unhewn logs, from
eighty to a hundred feet long and forty wide. Mr. Cummings was of middle
stature, well formed, of great firmness and dignity. His voice was of
great compass, and his articulation distinct. At this time the
inhabitants, during the summer months, were compelled to take shelter in
forts for protection against the Indians. The men went to church armed,
taking their families with them. The armed congregation, seated in the
log meeting-house, presented a singular spectacle of frontier life. Mr.
Cummings, when he ascended the steps of the pulpit, deposited his rifle
in a corner and laid aside his shot-pouch. He was a zealous whig, and
was chairman of the committee of safety of Washington County, formed as
early as January, 1775. He was a Presbyterian of the old stamp, a rigid
Calvinist, and a man of exemplary piety.
After the battle of Monmouth Sir Henry Clinton occupied New York. The
arrival of a French fleet under D'Estaing reanimated the hopes of the
Americans. Arthur Lee argued unfavorably of the removal of D'Orvilliers
and D'Estaing's appointment. Washington took a position at White Plains,
on the Hudson. About this time Colonel Baylor's regiment of cavalry was
surprised in the night by a British corps under General Gray. Of one
hundred and four privates forty were made prisoners, and twenty-seven
killed or wounded. Colonel Baylor was himself dangerously wounded and
taken prisoner.
In the year 1778 the town of Abington was incorporated. Virginia sent
General George Rogers Clarke on an expedition to the northwest. After
enduring extreme sufferings in marching through a wilderness, he and his
hardy followers captured Kaskaskias and its governor, Rocheblave. In
December, 1778, Hamilton, British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, under
Sir Guy Carleton, governor-in-chief, took possession of the post (now
the town) of Vincennes, in Indiana. Here he fortified himself, intending
in the ensuing spring to rally his Indian confederates to attack
Kaskaskias, then in possession of Clarke, and to proceed up the Ohio to
Fort Pitt, sweeping Kentucky in the way, and finally overrunning all
West Augusta. This expedition was ordered by Carleton. Clarke's
position was too remote for succor, and his force too small to withstand
a siege; nevertheless, he prepared to make the best defence possible. At
this juncture a Spanish merchant brought intelligence that Hamilton had,
by detaching his Indian allies, reduced the strength of his garrison to
eighty men, with a few cannon. Clarke immediately despatched a small
armed galley, with orders to force her way and station herself a few
miles below the enemy. In the mean time, early in February, 1779, he
marched, with one hundred and thirty men, upon St. Vincennes: many of
the inhabitants of the country joined the expedition; the rest
garrisoned the towns. Impeded by rain and high waters, his little army
were occupied for sixteen days in reaching the fertile borders of the
Wabash, and when within nine miles of the enemy it required five days to
cross "the drowned lands" near that river, "having to wade often upwards
of two leagues, up to our breasts in water." But for the unusual
mildness of the season they must have perished. On the evening of
February the twenty-third they reached dry land, and came unperceived
within sight of the enemy; and an attack being made at seven o'clock,
the inhabitants of St. Vincennes gladly surrendered it, and assisted in
besieging Hamilton, who held out in the fort. On the next day he
surrendered the garrison. Clarke despatching some armed boats up the
Wabash, captured a convoy, including forty prisoners and L10,000 worth
of goods and stores. Hamilton, and some officers and privates, were sent
to the governor at Williamsburg. Colonel Shelby about the same time
attacking the Cherokees, who had taken up the tomahawk, burnt eleven
towns and a large quantity of corn, and captured L25,000 worth of goods.
The assembly of Virginia afterwards presented to General Clarke an
honorary sword, on the scabbard of which was inscribed: "Sic semper
tyrannis;" and on the blade: "A tribute to courage and patriotism,
presented by the State of Virginia to her beloved son, General George
Rogers Clarke, who, by the conquest of Illinois and Vincennes, extended
her empire and aided in defence of her liberties." In his latter years
he was intemperate.
FOOTNOTES:
[687:A] The Rev. Dr. Hill told Mr. Grigsby that he had seen the marks of
the flogging on Morgan's back.
[688:A] Cooper's History of North America, 106.
[689:A] To wit, that he ought by no means to have fired at the American,
as he probably might have wished to speak to him and give him
intelligence.