1781.
Greene, Commander of Southern Army--Morgan's Victory at
Cowpens--Arnold at Portsmouth--Battle of Guilford--Re-enforced
by Phillips--The Enemy at Petersburg--Devastations--Phillips
proceeds down James River--Returns to Petersburg--His Death--
Succeeded by Arnold--Simcoe--Virginia Navy--John Tyler--John
Banister.
IN accordance with a resolution of congress, passed in November, 1780,
General Gates was superseded, and Washington, who was required to
appoint an officer to fill the vacant post, selected General Nathaniel
Greene, of Rhode Island. He reached Charlotte, the headquarters of the
Southern army, early in December. About this time Lee's legion was
ordered into South Carolina, to a point west of the Catawba. Cornwallis,
whose headquarters were at Winnsborough, detached Tarleton in pursuit of
Morgan, who retreated to the Cowpens, and resolved to risk a battle
there. Tarleton leaving his baggage behind him well guarded, started,
with his accustomed celerity, at three o'clock in the morning,[715:A] in
pursuit. Before day Morgan received intelligence of his approach, and
prepared for action. He drew up his regulars and Triplett's corps,
reckoned not inferior to them, and about four or five hundred men, under
Howard, on an eminence in an open wood. In their rear, on the declivity
of the hill, Lieutenant-Colonel Washington was posted with his cavalry
and some mounted Georgia militia as a reserve; and with these two corps
Morgan remained in person. The front line was composed of militia, under
Pickens. Major McDowell, with a battalion of North Carolina volunteers,
and Major Cunningham, with a battalion of Georgia volunteers, were
advanced about one hundred and fifty yards in front of this line.
Morgan's whole force amounted to eight hundred men. Soon after the
troops were disposed, the British van appeared in sight, and Tarleton
forming his line of battle, his troops rushed forward to the attack,
shouting. Morgan's first line soon retreated into the rear of the
second. The British advanced in spite of a firm resistance; Tarleton
ordered up his reserve, and Howard's infantry being outflanked, Morgan
rode up and directed that corps to retreat over the summit of the hill,
about one hundred yards, to the cavalry. The British, now confident of
victory, pressed on, in some disorder, and when the Americans halted,
were within thirty yards of them. At Howard's order, his men turning,
faced the enemy, and poured in, unexpectedly, a deadly fire. Howard,
perceiving that the enemy's ranks were thrown into some confusion,
ordered a charge with the bayonet, and the British line was broken. The
cavalry on their right was at the same time routed by Washington. Howard
and Washington pressed their advantage until the artillery and greater
part of the infantry surrendered; but Washington pursuing too eagerly,
received a temporary check, and sustained a heavier loss in this part of
the action than in any other. However, the infantry advancing to support
him, Tarleton resumed his retreat.[716:A]
In this battle one hundred British, including ten commissioned officers,
were killed; twenty-nine commissioned officers and five hundred privates
made prisoners. A large quantity of arms and baggage and one hundred
dragoon horses fell into the hands of the victors. Morgan lost less than
eighty men in killed and wounded.
Tarleton retreated toward Cornwallis, whose headquarters were now
twenty-five miles distant. In this action Cornwallis had lost one-fifth
of his number and the flower of his army. But Greene was not strong
enough to press the advantage; and Morgan, apprehensive of being
intercepted by Cornwallis, abandoned the captured baggage, interring the
arms, and leaving his wounded under the protection of a flag, hastened
to the Catawba, which he recrossed on the twenty-third. The prisoners
were sent by General Greene, under escort of Stevens' brigade of
Virginia militia to Charlottesville.
In the mean while Arnold, ensconced, like a vulture, was prevented from
planning new schemes of devastation by apprehensions that he now began
to entertain for his own safety.[717:A] Richard Henry Lee wrote: "But
surely, if secrecy and despatch were used, one ship-of-the-line and two
frigates would be the means of delivering Arnold and his people into our
hands; since the strongest ship here is a forty-four, which covers all
their operations. If I am rightly informed, the militia now in arms are
strong enough to smother these invaders in a moment if a marine force
was here to second the land operations."
February the ninth a French sixty-four gun-ship, with two frigates,
under Monsieur De Tilley, sailed for the Chesapeake, and arriving by the
thirteenth threatened Portsmouth. But the ship-of-the-line proving too
large to operate against the post, De Tilley, in a few days, sailed back
for Rhode Island. It was a great disappointment to the Virginians that
the French admiral could not be persuaded to send a force competent to
capture the traitor. Governor Jefferson, in a letter to General
Muhlenburg, offered five thousand guineas for his capture; and suggested
that men might be employed to effect this by entering his quarters in
the garb of friends--a measure not to be justified even toward Benedict
Arnold.
After the battle of the Cowpens, Greene, closely pursued by Cornwallis,
retreated across the Dan into Virginia. His lordship then proceeded to
Hillsborough, then the capital of North Carolina, where he invited the
inhabitants to repair to the royal standard. Greene, re-enforced by a
body of Virginia militia under General Stevens, soon re-entered North
Carolina, where numerous tories were embodying themselves to join
Cornwallis. On the twenty-fifth of February, Lee, with his cavalry, by
stratagem surprising a body of royalists under Colonel Pyle, cut them
to pieces. On the fifteenth of March occurred the battle of Guilford.
Greene's army was much superior in numbers, but consisted mainly of
militia and new levies. The cavalry of Lee and Washington was excellent,
but the ground was unfavorable for their action. The officers under
Greene were mostly veteran. The Virginia militia were commanded by
Generals Stevens and Lawson, and by Colonels Preston, Campbell, and
Lynch; those of North Carolina by Generals Butler and Eaton. Of the
continentals one Maryland regiment alone was veteran. Guilford
court-house, near the great Salisbury road, stood on a hill which
descends eastward, gradually, with an undulating slope for half a mile,
terminating in a little vale intersected by a rivulet. On the right of
the road the ground was open, with some copses of wood; on the left a
forest. Greene, with not quite two thousand regulars, was posted at the
court-house; in the field to the right of the road, the two regiments of
Virginia under Huger, the two of Maryland under Williams. Three hundred
yards in advance of the regulars were stationed the Virginia militia,
crossing at right angles the great road; and as far in front of them and
across the same road the North Carolina militia were formed: the
Virginia line in the woods; the Carolinians partly in the forest and
partly on its edge, behind a strong rail-fence, in front of which lay an
open field. Two pieces of artillery, under Captain Singleton, were
placed in the road a few yards in advance of the first line. The right
flank was guarded by Washington's cavalry, a veteran Delaware company
under Kirkwood, and Colonel Lynch with a battalion of Virginia militia.
The left was guarded by Lee's legion and Campbell's riflemen. At about
ten o'clock in the forenoon, after some firing of artillery, the
British, reaching the rivulet, deployed into line of battle, the right
commanded by Leslie, the left by Webster. The North Carolina militia,
unable to stand the shock, a few excepted, broke, threw away their arms,
and fled precipitately through the woods. The Virginia line received the
enemy with more firmness, but the greater part of them were compelled to
retreat, which was accelerated by the fall of General Stevens, who was
wounded in the thigh. The struggle between the enemy and the
continentals was stoutly contested, but the second Maryland regiment
unexpectedly giving way, Greene was compelled to retreat. Cornwallis
pursued but a short distance. The American loss in killed and wounded
amounted to thirty officers and four hundred privates. The British loss
amounted to five hundred and thirty-two, including several valuable
officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart of the guards was killed; Colonel
Webster mortally wounded. The total number of Greene's army was
forty-five hundred, of whom thirty hundred were actually engaged.
Cornwallis' force, according to American accounts, numbered two
thousand; according to his statement, to only fourteen hundred and
forty-five. After this disastrous victory Lord Cornwallis found it
necessary to retire toward Wilmington.
In the mean while Arnold's anxiety for his safety at Portsmouth was
relieved by the arrival[719:A] of a re-enforcement under General
Phillips. This accomplished and able but proud and passionate officer,
exasperated by a tedious captivity, upon his exchange had been indulged
by Sir Henry Clinton in a desire to invade Virginia, and wreak his
vengeance on a State where he had been so long detained (unjustly as he,
not without some reason, believed) a prisoner of war. Having united
Arnold's force with his own, Phillips left Portsmouth,[719:B] and on the
following day the army landed at Burwell's Ferry, from which the militia
fled. Phillips, with the main body, marched upon Williamsburg, and
entered it without serious opposition. Simcoe, with a small party of
cavalry, early next morning surprised a few artillery-men at Yorktown,
(the rest escaping across the river in a boat,) and burnt "a range of
the rebel barracks." The British sloop, Bonetta, anchored off the town.
How little did the parties engaged in this little episode anticipate the
great event which was destined soon to make that ground classic! The
Bonetta, too, was destined to return to that picturesque place to play
her part in the closing scene. Phillips, embarking at Barret's Ferry,
near the mouth of the Chickahominy, issued "the strictest orders to
prevent privateers, the bane and disgrace of the country which employs
them;" but these orders were disregarded. When off Westover, he issued
further orders, saying:
"A third object of the present expedition is to gain Petersburg, for
the purpose of destroying the enemy's stores at that place, and it is
public stores alone that are intended to be seized." A body of two
thousand five hundred men under Phillips landed at City Point,[720:A]
and passed the night there; and on the next morning (Wednesday) marched
upon Petersburg, by way of Colonel Banister's Whitehall plantation,
where they halted in the heat of the day and refreshed themselves.
Steuben, with a thousand men, disputed the entry of the town. At about
two o'clock the British advanced in two columns by the old road leading
by the Blandford Church, and were opposed by a party of militia posted
on the heights, just beyond Blandford, under Captain House, of
Brunswick, and Colonel Dick. The enemy were twice broken, and ran like
sheep, and during two hours advanced only one mile. At length the
battalion of Americans posted at the Bollingbrook warehouses, near the
Blandford Bridge, being flanked by four pieces of artillery, were
compelled to retire over the Appomattox, taking up Pocahontas Bridge as
soon as they had crossed it, ten men being killed in ascending the hill.
On this hill Steuben had placed some troops and cannon to cover his
retreat. The American loss, killed, wounded, and taken, in this affair
was estimated at sixty; that of the British probably not less, there
having been, according to Colonel Banister, not less than fourteen
killed; their wounded were sent down the river in gun-boats.
Abercrombie, who commanded the British infantry on this occasion, was
the same who afterwards fell in Egypt. Phillips, taking possession of
Petersburg, made his headquarters at Bollingbrook, a private residence,
on an eminence overlooking the river. He destroyed, next day, a large
quantity of tobacco, the people removing it from the warehouses to save
it from the flames. One of them was set fire to by a soldier and burnt.
The enemy also destroyed several vessels. The bridge over the Appomattox
being readily repaired, Abercrombie, with a detachment, passed over on
the twenty-sixth, and took possession of the heights opposite the town,
known as Archer's Hill. Phillips, with his whole army, crossing on the
same day, burnt the bridge, and proceeded to commit devastations at
Chesterfield Court-house, Osbornes, and at Warwick, destroying the
American vessels, and shipping off the tobacco. This being private
property, its destruction was in violation of his recent order. At
Manchester a detachment destroyed the warehouses and tobacco, and
several dwelling-houses, the militia and inhabitants of Richmond being
quiet spectators of the scene. Proceeding from Osbornes to Bermuda
Hundred, the British embarked there and sailed down the river as far as
Hog Island, where Phillips, receiving orders by an advice-boat, returned
up the river, as far as Brandon, the seat of Benjamin Harrison, where
the troops landed in a gale of wind. Colonel Theodorick Bland, Sr.,
received the following protection: "It is Major-General Phillips'
positive orders that no part of the property of Colonel Theodorick Bland
receive any injury from his majesty's troops.
"April 25th, 1781.
"J. W. NOBLE, aide-de-camp Major-General Phillips.
"Major-General Phillips is very happy to show this favor on account of
Colonel Bland Junior's many civilities to the troops of convention at
Charlottesville."
Notwithstanding this, Colonel Bland's place of residence, Farmingdell,
in Prince George County, was plundered by the British troops: his
furniture broken to pieces; china-ware pounded up; tobacco, corn, and
stock destroyed, and negroes taken off. General Phillips being taken
ill, found it necessary to travel in a carriage, which was procured for
him by Simcoe.
Part of the troops were sent[721:A] to City Point in boats; the rest
marched upon Petersburg, arrived there late in the night, and surprised
a party of American officers engaged in collecting boats for La Fayette
to cross his army.[721:B] La Fayette, with a strong escort, appeared on
the heights opposite Petersburg, and the artillery, under Colonel Gimat,
cannonaded the enemy's quarters. Bollingbrook, where General Phillips
lay ill of a bilious fever, being exposed to the fire, it was found
necessary to remove him into the cellar, and it is commonly reported
that he died while the firing was going on. This mistake appears to have
originated with Anburey, who, in his Travels, mentions that during the
cannonade, the British general, then at the point of death, exclaimed,
"My God, 'tis cruel: they will not let me die in peace!" Anburey, being
himself a prisoner of war, was not in favorable circumstances for
obtaining accurate information on this subject. It appears that the
cannonading took place three days before the death of General Phillips.
He died on the thirteenth. La Fayette, aware that Bollingbrook was
headquarters, directed some shot particularly at that house, which, from
its elevated site, afforded a conspicuous mark. This proceeding was
provoked by the horrid series of devastations which Phillips had just
perpetrated in company of the traitor Arnold. Two balls struck the
house, it is said, one passing through it. General Phillips lies buried
in the old Blandford Churchyard. Miller,[722:A] a historian of his own
country, observes that it would have been a fortunate circumstance for
his fame "had he died three weeks sooner than he did."[722:B]
Upon the death of General Phillips the command devolved on Arnold, and
he sent an officer with a flag and a letter to La Fayette. As soon as he
saw Arnold's name subscribed to the letter he refused to read it, and
told the officer that he would hold no intercourse whatever with Arnold;
but with any other officer he should be ever ready to interchange the
civilities which the circumstances of the two armies might render
desirable. Washington highly approved of this proceeding.
Already before the death of General Phillips, Simcoe had been detached
from Petersburg to meet Cornwallis, who was advancing from North
Carolina. Simcoe, on his route to the Roanoke, captured, some miles to
the south of the Nottoway River, a Colonel Gee, at his residence, "a
rebel militia officer," who, refusing to give his parole, was sent
prisoner to Major Armstrong. Another "rebel," Colonel Hicks, mistaking
Simcoe's party for an advanced guard of La Fayette's army, was also made
prisoner. At Hicks' Ford, a captain and thirty militia-men were taken by
a _ruse de guerre_, and compelled to give their paroles. Here Simcoe, on
his return toward Petersburg, met with Tarleton and his "legion clothed
in white."
During this year (1781) Captain Harris, with the little brig Mosquito,
after taking two prizes, in a voyage to the West Indies was captured by
the British frigate Ariadne, and carried into Barbadoes. The men were
confined there in jail and prison-ships: the officers taken to England
and incarcerated in Fortune Jail, at Gosport. Driven by cruel usage to
make a desperate attempt at escape, they succeeded, and returned to
America, and again bore arms against the enemy. Among them were
Lieutenant Chamberlayne, Midshipman Alexander Moore, Alexander Dick,
captain of marines, and George Catlett, lieutenant of marines. Shortly
after the capture of the Mosquito, the Raleigh fell into the enemy's
hands, and her crew were no less maltreated. The brig Jefferson, under
command of Captain Markham, captured several prizes.
Among those distinguished for their gallantry in the little navy of
Virginia was Captain Samuel Barron, (son of Commodore James Barron,)
afterwards of the United States navy. Captain John Cowper, of Nansemond
County, was in command of the Dolphin brig, with a crew of seventy-five
men. Embarking on a cruise, he nailed his flag to the mast-head, and
declared that he would never strike it to an enemy. Engaging shortly
after with two British vessels, she was seen no more, and it is supposed
that she sunk during the action.
John Tyler was born at his father's residence, near Williamsburg, in
James City County, in 1748. His father, whose name he bore, was marshal
for the colony, and his mother was the daughter of Doctor Contesse, one
of the Protestants driven from France by the revocation of the edict of
Nantes, and who found a home in Virginia. John Tyler, the younger of the
two sons of this union, (the elder of whom died young,) enjoyed frequent
opportunities of hearing the debates in the house of burgesses, and
heard Patrick Henry in the stormy discussion on his resolutions in
1765, and in the decline of life still related with animation his
recollections of that debate. He became so decided an opponent of the
tyrannical pretensions of the mother country that his father often
predicted that, sooner or later, he would be executed for high treason.
Mr. Tyler studied the law under Mr. Robert Carter Nicholas, and while
thus engaged formed an acquaintance with Thomas Jefferson which ripened
into a friendship terminated only by death. The society of the ardent
Jefferson fanned the flame of young Tyler's patriotism, and he became at
an early day the advocate of independence. About the year 1774, having
obtained his license, he removed to Charles City, where he took up his
permanent abode. Successful in the practice of the law, he was after a
brief interval elected a delegate from that county. He was re-elected
for several years, his colleague for the greater part of that time being
Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, whom Mr. Tyler succeeded as speaker
of the house of burgesses. After the lapse of many years Mr. Tyler's
son, of the same name, succeeded General William Henry Harrison, son of
Benjamin Harrison, Jr., in the Presidency of the Union. Mr. Tyler, the
revolutionary patriot, while a member of the assembly, contracted an
intimate friendship with Patrick Henry, for whom he entertained an
almost idolizing veneration. They corresponded for many years. Mr. Tyler
participated largely in the debates, and on all occasions exhibited
himself a devoted patriot, and thoroughbred republican. In subsequent
years he was governor of Virginia and judge of the United States
district court. In private life his virtues won regard, in public his
integrity and talents commanded the confidence of his country.
John Banister was the son of an eminent botanist, of the same name, who
settled in Virginia toward the close of the seventeenth century, and
devoted himself to the study of plants. In one of his botanical
excursions, near the falls of the Roanoke, he fell from a rock and was
killed. As a naturalist he was esteemed not inferior to Bartram. John
Banister, the son, was educated in England, and bred to the law at the
Temple. He was a burgess of the assembly, and afterwards a distinguished
member of the convention of 1776. In the following year he was an active
member of the assembly. He visited the headquarters of the American
army about the time of the battle of Germantown. In 1778-9 he was a
member of congress at York, and at Philadelphia, and in September
visited headquarters as member of the committee of arrangement. He was
one of the framers of the articles of confederation. In 1781 he was
lieutenant-colonel of cavalry under General Lawson. The two other
colonels in the brigade were John Mercer, afterwards governor of
Maryland, and James Monroe, subsequently President of the United States.
Lawson's corps was dissolved when Leslie retired from Virginia, and thus
the horse commanded by Colonel Banister was lost to the State, at a time
when cavalry was so pressingly required. During the invasions which
Virginia was subjected to, Colonel Banister was actively engaged in the
efforts made to repel the enemy. Proprietor of a large estate, he
suffered repeated and heavy losses from the depredations of the British.
At one time, it is said, he supplied a body of troops, on their way to
the South, with blankets at his own expense.
A miniature likeness of him is said to be preserved by his descendants
in Amelia County. Of an excellent and well cultivated mind, and refined
manners, he was in private life amiable and upright, in public generous,
patriotic, and enlightened. As a writer he may be ranked with the first
of his day. A number of his letters have been published in the Bland
Papers, and several, addressed to Washington, in Sparks' Revolutionary
Correspondence.
Colonel Banister resided near Petersburg, at Battersea, which house he
built. Chastellux visited it in 1781. Colonel Banister married, first,
Mary, daughter of Colonel Theodorick Bland, Sr. Of this union there were
three children; but this whole branch is extinct. Colonel Banister's
second wife was Anne, sister of Judge Blair, of the federal court. There
were two sons of this marriage: Theodorick Blair, and John Monro.
Theodorick Blair Banister married Signora Tabb. Children surviving,
(1856:) Monro, Tudor, Yelverton, and two daughters. John Monro Banister
married Mary B. Bolling. Children surviving: William C. Banister, the
Rev. John Monro Banister, and three daughters.
FOOTNOTES:
[715:A] February 17th, 1781.
[716:A] In the pursuit, Washington advanced near thirty yards in front
of his men. Three British officers observing this charged upon him. The
officer on his right aimed a blow to cut him down, when an American
sergeant intercepted it by disabling his sword arm. The officer on his
left was about to make a stroke at him, when a waiter saved him by
wounding the assailant with a ball from a pistol. The officer in the
centre, believed to be Tarleton, now made a thrust at him, which he
parried, upon which the officer retreated a few paces and then
discharged a pistol at him, which wounded his horse.
[717:A] January 26th, 1781.
[719:A] March twenty-seventh.
[719:B] April eighteenth.
[720:A] April twenty-third.
[721:A] May ninth.
[721:B] Tenth.
[722:A] Hist. of England.
[722:B] Bollingbrook, deriving its name from the family of Bolling, who
owned much of the land on which the town of Petersburg was built,
consisted of two frame buildings, or wings, standing apart, it having
been designed to connect them by a main building, which, however, was
never done. The eastern tenement was burned down some years ago, and
thus was lost an interesting memento of the Revolution. A representation
of it may be seen in Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."