1780-1781.
Arnold's Invasion.
TOWARD the close of December, 1780, a fleet appeared within the capes of
the Chesapeake, with a force detached by Sir Henry Clinton from New
York, under command of the traitor Arnold. A frigate in advance having
captured some small vessels, Arnold, with the aid of them, pushed on at
once up the James. Attempting to land at Burwell's Ferry, (the Grove
Landing,) his boats were beaten off by one hundred and fifty militia of
Williamsburg and James City, under Colonel Innes and General Nelson.
Nelson, on this occasion, retorted a verbal defiance in answer to a
letter with which Arnold had ushered in his invasion.[710:A]
Leaving a frigate and some transports at Burwell's Ferry, Arnold
proceeded[710:B] up the river to Westover. Here landing a force of less
than eight hundred men, including a small party of badly mounted
cavalry, he marched for Richmond at two o'clock in the afternoon of the
same day. Nelson, in the mean while, with a handful of militia, badly
supplied with ammunition, had marched up the right bank of the James
River, but arrived too late to offer any opposition to the landing of
the enemy. Arnold, at one o'clock of the next day after he marched from
Westover, entered the infant capital without having encountered any
resistance, although his route was very favorable for it. The energetic
Simcoe, with a detachment, proceeded a few miles beyond Richmond and
destroyed the foundry, emptied the contents of the powder magazine,
struck off the trunnions of the cannon, and set fire to the warehouses
and mills, the effect of the conflagration being heightened by
occasional explosions of gunpowder. Many small arms and a stock of
military supplies were destroyed, and five tons of gunpowder thrown into
the river. At Richmond the public stores fell a prey; private property
was plundered and destroyed; the soldiers broke into houses and procured
rum; and several buildings were burnt. Part of the records of the
auditor's office, and the books and papers of the council office shared
the same fate.
Governor Jefferson used every effort in his power to remove the public
stores, and part were rescued by being removed across the river at
Westham. Late on the night of the fourth he went to Tuckahoe, and on the
next day went down to Manchester, opposite Richmond, where the busy
movements of the enemy were in full view. When they advanced upon that
place only two hundred militia were embodied--too small a number to make
any resistance. The governor, having repaired to Colonel Fleming's, in
Chesterfield, to meet Steuben, received there a message from Arnold,
offering not to burn Richmond, on condition that British vessels should
be permitted to come to it unmolested and take away the tobacco. The
proposition was rejected.
The inhabitants of Richmond were, for the most part, Scotch factors, who
lived in small tenements scattered here and there between the river and
the hill, some on the declivities, a few on the summit. Arnold withdrew
from Richmond about mid-day on the sixth, encamped that night, as he had
on the march up, at Four-mile Creek, and on the next day at Berkley and
Westover.
Arthur Lee wrote, on the twenty-first of March, from Greenspring to
Colonel Bland, as follows: "Most certainly you would have heard from me
could I have found any conveyance but the tory-post the wisdom of our
people has established, or could I have given you a pleasing account of
the situation of our affairs here. But in truth, it is impossible to
conceive a more hopeless state than what we are in. Laws without wisdom
or justice, governments without system or order, complex and heavy taxes
to raise money which is squandered away no one knows how, or wherefore,
not half the troops being raised, or those which are raided being
provided neither with arms, clothes, nor provisions. Twelve millions
were spent in two months, and when the enemy came, there was neither
man, horse, musket, cannon, wagon, boat, or any one thing in the world
that could be found for our defence. In this situation it need not
surprise you that Arnold, with a handful of bad troops, should march
about the country, take and destroy what he pleased, feast with his tory
friends, settle a regular correspondence with them, which he carried on
for some time in vessels sent up the river and unnoticed, till one
happening to run aground discovered Mrs. Byrd's correspondence, which,
however, will produce neither good to us nor injury to her. I have
reason to think she will not be tried at all, means having been taken to
keep the witnesses out of the way."[712:A]
Mrs. Maria Byrd, of Westover, was a sister of Thomas Willing, Esq.,
director of the Bank of North America, and partner of Robert Morris, and
a strenuous opponent of American independence. A sister of Mrs. Byrd
married Captain Walter Sterling, of the British navy. Samuel Inglis,
Esq., some time resident in Virginia as factor of the house of Willing &
Morris, under the firm of Inglis & Willing, was a decided opponent of
independence. He married the daughter of William Aitcheson, Esq., of
Norfolk, a Scotch tory, and was brother of Captain Inglis, of the
British navy.[712:B]
Simcoe, patroling in the night, surprised a party of militia at Charles
City Court-house, where, after some confused firing, the militia fled
with small loss; some few attempting to escape, were drowned in a
mill-pond. Sergeant Adams, of Simcoe's Regiment, was mortally wounded,
and dying shortly afterwards, was buried at Westover, wrapped in some
American colors taken a few days before at Hoods. Nelson, re-enforced at
Holt's Forge by a party of Gloucester militia under Colonel John Page,
finding his force not exceeding four hundred men, retreated. On that
night[712:C] the British embarked at Westover, and dropped down the
James to Flower-de-Hundred. Here Simcoe was detached with a force to
dislodge some militia at Bland's Mills, and after advancing about two
miles, the advance guard, in a dense wood, were fired on by some
Americans posted at the forks of the road in front. The British lost
twenty men killed and wounded; but, charging, put the militia to flight.
Arnold sending a detachment ashore at Fort Hoods, a skirmish ensued with
two hundred and forty men in ambuscade, under Colonel George Rogers
Clarke. The enemy lost seventeen killed and thirteen wounded at the
first fire, when Clarke being charged, found it necessary to retreat.
John Marshall was present at this affair. The enemy dismantled the fort
and carried off the heavy artillery. Nelson, in the mean time, by a
forced march, reached Williamsburg just before the fleet came to off
Jamestown. Arnold, however, landed part of his forces at Cobham, on the
opposite side of the river, and marched down, his ships keeping pace
with and occasionally re-enforcing him. On the next day Nelson paraded
about four hundred militia at Burwell's Ferry to oppose the landing of
the enemy. Re-enforcements arriving, augmented his force to twelve
hundred; but the enemy was now beyond their reach. Colonel Griffin and
Colonel Temple, with a party of light horse, had hovered near the
enemy's lines at Westover, and followed the fleet as it went down the
river. In this party were Colonels William Nelson, Gregory Smith, Holt
Richardson, Major Buller Claiborne, General Lincoln's aid, and Majors
Burwell, Ragsdale, and others, together with a number of young
gentlemen. Arnold returned to Portsmouth on the twentieth of January
without having encountered any serious interruption.
Thus it happened that while the regular troops of Virginia were serving
at a distance in other States, the militia, after a five years' war, was
still so unarmed and undisciplined that no effective resistance was made
to this daring invasion.
About the time when Arnold reached Portsmouth, some of his
artillery-men, foraging on the road toward the Great Bridge, were
attacked, their wagons captured and their officer wounded. Simcoe, with
a handful of yagers and Queen's Rangers, was detached for the purpose of
recovering the wagons. Ferrying across to Herbert's Point they advanced
about a mile, when "an artillery-man, who had escaped and lay in the
bushes, came out and informed him that Lieutenant Rynd lay not far off.
Simcoe found him shockingly mangled and mortally wounded; he sent to a
neighboring farm for an ox-cart, on which the unfortunate young
gentleman was placed. The rain continued in a violent manner, which
precluded all pursuit of the enemy; it now grew more tempestuous, and
ended in a perfect hurricane, accompanied with incessant lightning. This
small party slowly moved back toward Herbert's Ferry; it was with
difficulty that the drivers and attendants on the cart could find their
way; the soldiers marched on with bayonets fixed, linked in ranks
together, covering the road. The creaking of the wagon and the groans of
the youth added to the horror of the night; the road was no longer to be
traced when it quitted the woods, and it was a great satisfaction that a
flash of lightning, which glared among the ruins of Norfolk, disclosed
Herbert's house. Here a boat was procured, in which the unhappy youth
was conveyed to the hospital-ship, where he died the next day."[714:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[710:A] In a series of replies made by Mr. Jefferson to strictures
thrown out upon his conduct of affairs at this juncture, the following
occurs: "Query--Why publish Arnold's letter without General Nelson's
answer? Answer--Ask the printer. He got neither from the executive."
[710:B] January 4th, 1781.
[712:A] MS. letter of Arthur Lee in my possession.
[712:B] MS. of Colonel Theodorick Bland, Jr. Arnold's visits to Westover
are referred to in Edgehill, a novel, by James E. Heath. Esq.
[712:C] January tenth.
[714:A] Simcoe, 171.