_Concluding Scenes._
Embarrassments of the Confederacy--Assaults upon Washington--
Philadelphia evacuated--Lee’s Retreat--England enlists
Savages--Lord Chatham--British Ravages--Capture of
Stony Point--Efforts of Sir Henry Clinton--Treason of
Arnold--Major Andrè--British at Mount Vernon--Cornwallis at
Yorktown--Excitement in Philadelphia--News of the Treaty of
Peace--Washington’s Farewell--Resigns his Commission--Chosen
President--Views of Slavery--Sickness and Death.
The dreary winter passed slowly away, while Washington was making
vigorous preparations for opening the campaign in the spring. Immense
embarrassments arose from the fact that Congress did not represent
a _nation_, but merely a _confederacy_ of independent states. Each
state decided the pay it would offer the troops, and claimed the right
to retain them at home or to send them abroad at its pleasure. These
difficulties subsequently led the United States to organize themselves
into a _nation_.
No man can be in power without being denounced. Washington was assailed
most cruelly. He wrote to the President of Congress:
“My enemies know I cannot combat their insinuations however injurious,
without disclosing secrets it is of the utmost moment to conceal. But
why should I expect to be exempt from censure, the unfailing lot of an
elevated station? Merit and talent which I cannot pretend to rival,
have ever been subject to it.”
In these dark hours France generously came to the aid of the patriots,
struggling for freedom in America against such desperate odds. The
tidings of the French Alliance awoke new emotions of joy in the weary
hearts at Valley Forge. The British army in Philadelphia amounted to
not less than thirty thousand men. They were greatly alarmed. The
danger was imminent that a French fleet might appear in the Delaware
and cut off their retreat by water, while the American farmers, thus
encouraged, would rise _en masse_ and prevent their escape by land.
This doubtless would have been their doom but for a succession of
storms which delayed the French fleet.
With precipitation, the British evacuated Philadelphia. Their heavy
material of war was shipped to New York. The troops marched very
cautiously through New Jersey. Washington followed closely in their
rear. The 28th of June was a day of intense heat. The British were at
Monmouth. The march of another day would unite them with the troops in
New York. They would then be safe from attack. Washington was extremely
anxious that they should not escape without receiving at least one
heavy blow.
Lee was in the advance with five thousand men. Washington ordered him
to make an impetuous assault, promising to hasten to his support.
Instead of obeying orders this strange man, of undoubted abilities but
of inexplicable eccentricity, commenced a retreat. Intense, beyond the
power of utterance, was the chagrin of Washington as he met Lee, at the
head of his troops, in this retrograde movement. In tones of anguish he
exclaimed: “What means this ill-timed prudence?” Lee instantly replied:
“I know of no man blessed with a larger portion of that rascally virtue
than your Excellency.”
There was no time for altercation. Lee’s men felt humiliated. As soon
as they caught sight of Washington they greeted him with cheers.
Promptly they wheeled around at his command, and rushed upon the foe.
A bloody battle ensued with all its ordinary complications of uproar,
tumult, woe and death.
The British were routed and driven from the field. The Americans,
exhilarated by their success, slept upon the field with their arms by
their side, and impatiently awaited the morning, eager to renew the
battle. Signal as had been their success, it would have been far more
decisive had General Lee obeyed orders. General Washington wrapped
himself in his cloak, and slept in the midst of his soldiers.
In the night the vanquished British silently stole away. In the morning
no foe was to be seen. There were left three hundred of the mutilated
bodies of their dead unburied upon the plain. Sixty prisoners were
taken, and six hundred deserted the ranks, and scattered through the
country. They were disgusted with the infamous service into which
they had been driven by kings and courts, and were kindly received by
the American farmers. At Middletown the remains of the fugitive army,
protected by the guns of the fleet, embarked and were conveyed to New
York.
Thus another summer passed away of marches, countermarches and
skirmishes, many of them bloody and woeful, but without any decisive
results. The inhuman court of England, disheartened by the wholesale
desertion of troops, both English and German, and disappointed in their
inability to enlist Tories for the war, redoubled their efforts to
summon the demoniac savages to their aid. Loud were the remonstrances
against this atrocious conduct by many of the noblest men of England,
both in the Commons and in the House of Lords. But the King and the
Court declared, that in order to subdue America they had a right to
use whatever instruments God and nature had placed in their hands.
The British sent agents to the cruel savages of the Mohawk to rouse
the fierce warriors of the Six Nations against the feeble villages of
the frontier. It was a demoniac deed. Scenes of horror were witnessed
too awful for recital. The annals of our globe contain scarcely
any tragedies more awful than the massacres of Cherry Valley and
Wyoming. The narrative of these deeds sent a thrill of horror not only
throughout France and America, but into multitudes of humane hearts in
England. Some Englishmen pleaded earnestly for us, like Lord Chatham,
in the House of Lords. We shall never forget his words as he exclaimed,
in view of these outrages:
“Were I an American as I am an Englishman, I would never lay down my
arms, never--_never_--NEVER.”
Washington sent four thousand men to defend, as far as possible, the
poor, helpless pioneers from the torch and the scalping-knife. Hundreds
of lowly homes were laid in ashes. Hundreds of families, parents and
children, were butchered, before the savages were driven from their
murderous work. They fled at length to Niagara, where the British
received their allies into their fortresses.
The American army, feeble in numbers, and suffering from cold and
hunger, were led by Washington into winter quarters, mainly on the
Hudson, near West Point. The British remained within their lines in
the city of New York. Their fleet gave them command of the ocean, and
they reveled in abundance. It would seem that both officers and men
were a godless set, dead to humanity, and still more dead to religion.
None but the worst of men would engage in so foul an enterprise. They
spent the winter in dancing, gambling, drinking, and every species of
dissolute carousal.
Alarmed by the tidings that France was coming to the aid of America,
British pride and rage were roused to intensity. The spring campaign
opened with renewed devastation and plunder. Lord George Germain
had the effrontery to say in Parliament, in view of these scenes of
massacre and brutal treatment of prisoners:
“A war of this sort will probably induce the rebellious provinces to
return to their allegiance.”
The sky was reddened with the wanton burning of villages. Women and
children were driven, houseless and without food, to perish in the
fields. Fairfield and Norwalk, Connecticut, and many other towns were
laid in ashes.
While the British were thus ravaging defenseless regions, Washington
had no power to face their concentrated armies, yet he was eagerly
watching for every opportunity to strike a blow, where there was good
prospect of success. To subject his troops to almost certain defeat,
would not only be cruel, in the slaughter which would ensue, but
disheartening and ruinous to the cause.
The British had an important fortress at Stony Point on the Hudson.
General Washington sent General Wayne to take it. With great gallantry
he conducted the enterprise. Sixty-three of the British were killed,
five hundred and forty-three were taken prisoners, and all the military
stores of the fortress were captured. Many similar enterprises were
conducted. With skill, which now seems supernatural, this wonderful
man, thoughtful, prayerful, and confident of final success, held the
fleets and armies of the empire of Great Britain at bay, thwarted
all the efforts of their ablest generals, and closed the campaign
unvanquished. We know not where to look for a record of greater
military genius, of more self-denying patriotism, of higher nobility of
soul, than is here displayed.
Again, as the wintry winds of 1779 swept the field, both armies
retired to winter quarters, preparing to renew the conflict. With the
early spring, the British troops were sent abroad in detachments to
carry on their work of conflagration, blood, and misery. Sir Henry
Clinton, then in command of the British forces, was anxious to crush
the Americans before the fleet and army which France was so generously
organizing should reach these shores.
In July, twelve French vessels of war with a supply of arms and
ammunition, and an army of five thousand soldiers arrived. But England
had by this time concentrated a far more formidable fleet in our
waters, and had greatly increased her armies. Thus many felt that
even the aid of France could be of no avail. Years of war and woe
had filled some of even the stoutest hearts with despair. Many of
the truest patriots urged that it was madness longer to continue the
conflict; that it was in vain for these feeble colonies in their utter
impoverishment, any longer to contend against the richest and most
powerful monarchy on the globe.
General Arnold was in command at West Point. He was one of the bravest
of soldiers, but a ruined gambler. Napoleon I. declared that he would
never appoint any gambler to any post of responsibility. Arnold was
overwhelmed with these so-called debts of honor. He saw no hope for
his country. He could turn traitor, and barter West Point for almost
boundless quantities of British gold. The gambler became a traitor. The
treason was detected. The traitor escaped, but young Andrè, who allowed
himself to act the part of a spy in this foul deed, perished upon the
scaffold. He was very young. He was surrounded by influences which
perverted his judgment and deadened his conscience. Consequently, great
sympathy was felt for him, and many tears were shed over his untimely
end.
Britain proudly proclaimed that with her invincible fleet she ruled
supreme over the wild waste of waters. The whole ocean she regarded as
her undisputed domain. Lord Cornwallis was sent with a powerful army to
overrun North and South Carolina. He had a numerous fleet to co-operate
with him. The vigilant eye of Washington was fixed everywhere upon
the foe, striving to ward off blows, and to harass the enemy in his
movements.
Thus the dreary summer of 1780 lingered away, over our war-scathed,
woe-stricken land. There were many bloody conflicts, but no decisive
battles. Still Washington was victorious; for he thwarted all the
herculean endeavors of the British to enslave our land.
In the opening spring of the year 1781, the British turned their
main energies of devastation and ruin against the South. Richmond, in
Virginia, was laid in ashes. With their armed vessels they ravaged the
shores of the Chesapeake and the Potomac. They landed at Mount Vernon,
and would have applied the torch to every building, and trampled down
all the harvests, had not the manager of the estate ransomed the
property by bringing in a large quantity of supplies. When Washington
heard of this he was much displeased. He wrote to his agent:
“It would have been a less painful circumstance to me to have heard
that in consequence of your non-compliance with their request, they had
burned my house and laid the plantation in ruins. You ought to have
considered yourself as my representative, and should have reflected
on the bad example of communicating with the enemy, and of making a
voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a view to prevent the
conflagration.”
Still the prospects of the country were dark. The army dwindled away to
three thousand men. There was no money in the treasury. The paper money
issued by Congress had become quite valueless. The British, exasperated
by defeats, and humiliated in seeing their fleets and armies held
at bay so long by a foe so feeble, were summoning their mightiest
energies to close the war as with a clap of thunder.
Cornwallis was now with a well-equipped army at Yorktown, in Virginia.
There was no foe to oppose him. Washington made a secret movement, in
conjunction with our generous allies, for his capture. He deceived the
British by making them believe that he was preparing for the siege
of New York. One bright and sunny morning in September, Cornwallis
was surprised, and quite astounded in seeing the heights around him
glistening with the bayonets and frowning with the batteries of the
Americans. And at the same time a French fleet was ascending the bay,
and casting anchor before the harbor. The British general was caught in
a trap. A few days of hopeless despairing conflict ensued, when famine
and the carnage of incessant bombardment compelled him to surrender. It
was the 19th of October, 1781.
Awful was the humiliation of Cornwallis. Seven thousand British
regulars threw down their arms. One hundred and sixty pieces of cannon
graced this memorable triumph. The noble Washington, as the British
troops were marching from their ramparts to become captives of war,
said to the Americans:
“My brave fellows, let no sensation of satisfaction for the triumphs
you have gained induce you to insult your fallen enemy. Let no
shouting, no clamorous huzzaing increase their mortification. Posterity
will huzza for us.”
The next day he issued the following characteristic order to the army:
“Divine service is to be performed to-morrow, in the several brigades
and divisions. The commander-in-chief earnestly recommends that the
troops not on duty should universally attend, with that seriousness
of deportment and gratitude of heart which the recognition of such
reiterated and astonishing interpositions of Providence demand of us.”
It was midnight when the rapturous tidings reached Philadelphia. A
watchman traversed the streets shouting at intervals, “Past twelve
o’clock, and a pleasant morning. Cornwallis is taken.”
These words startled the slumbering citizens, almost like the “trump
which wakes the dead.” Candles were lighted, windows thrown up, figures
in night robes and caps bent eagerly out to catch the thrilling
sound. Citizens rushed into the streets half clad; they wept, they
laughed, they shouted, they embraced each other; the bells were rung,
the booming of cannon and the rattle of musketry were heard in all
directions, as men and boys, in the joyful salute, endeavored to give
expression to their inexpressible joy.
The news flew upon the wings of the wind, over the mountains
and through the valleys, no one could tell how. The shout of an
enfranchised people rose like a roar of thunder from our whole land.
The enthusiasm of the Americans was roused to the highest pitch. It
was now clear, that, aided by the French fleet and the French army,
and with such supplies of money, arms, and ammunition as France was
generously affording, the British government could not enslave our
land. The British were disheartened. Though they continued their
menaces of hostility, it was evident that they considered the question
as settled. Both parties retired to winter quarters. During the winter
no movements were made by either party calling for record. Another
summer came and went. There were marchings and counter-marchings, while
neither the English nor the Americans seemed disposed to crimson the
soil with the blood of a general conflict.
On the night of the 19th of April, 1783, the joyful tidings were
communicated to the American army that a treaty of peace had been
signed in Paris. It was just eight years from the day when the awful
conflict commenced on the plain at Lexington. No one but God can know
the amount of misery caused by those long years of battle. Thousands
had perished amidst the agonies of the various fields of conflict;
thousands had been beggared; millions of property had been destroyed;
mothers and maidens whose numbers cannot be estimated had been dragged
into captivity, a thousand-fold worse than death; and widows and
orphans had been consigned to life-long poverty and grief.
Such was the vengeance which the powerful government of Great Britain
wreaked upon these feeble colonies for their refusal to submit to
intolerable despotism. The writer would not wish to perpetuate the
remembrance of these wrongs, still it is not the duty of the historian
to attempt to conceal or palliate atrocious outrages against the rights
of human nature. It is difficult to find in all the records of the
past, deeds more inexcusable, more wicked, more infamous, than this
effort of Great Britain, to enslave these infant colonies.
Late in November, the British embarked in their fleet in New York, and
sailed for their distant island. At the same time Washington, marching
with his troops from West Point, entered the city. America was free and
independent, and Washington was the universally recognized saviour of
his country. There was no longer any foe. The army was disbanded on the
4th of December. Washington took leave of his companions in arms. His
voice trembled with emotion as he said:
“With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I
most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy
as your former have been glorious and honorable. I cannot come to each
of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each of you will come
and take me by the hand.”
Tears blinded his eyes, and he could say no more. One after another,
these heroic men grasped his hand in parting. Not a word was spoken.
Slowly he journeyed towards Mount Vernon. At every city and village he
was greeted with the highest tokens of love and veneration. On the 23d
of December he met the Continental Congress at Annapolis. Resigning his
commission, he said:
“Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great
theater of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to thy august
body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my
commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”
Soon a convention was held in Philadelphia to organize the Confederacy
of States into a nation. Essentially the present Constitution was
formed. By the unanimous voice of the electors, Washington was chosen
first President of the United States. He was inaugurated on the 30th
of April, 1789. Holding the office two terms of four years each, he
retired again in 1796, to the peaceful shades of Mount Vernon. In his
farewell address he bequeathed to his countrymen a graceful legacy of
patriotic counsel which ever has and ever will excite their profound
admiration.
Washington, having inherited a large landed estate in Virginia, was,
as a matter of course, a slaveholder. The whole number which he held
at the time of his death was one hundred and twenty-four. The system
met his strong disapproval. In 1786, he wrote to Robert Morris, saying:
“There is no man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a
plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.”
Lafayette, that true friend of popular rights, was extremely anxious
to free our country from the reproach which slavery brought upon it.
Washington wrote to him in 1788: “The scheme, my dear marquis, which
you propose as a precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black
people of this country from the state of bondage in which they are
held, is a striking evidence of the state of your heart. I shall be
happy to join you in so laudable a work.”
In his last will and testament, he inscribed these noble words:
“Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the
slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To
emancipate them during her life would, though earnestly wished by me,
be attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their
mixture by marriage with the dower negroes, as to excite the most
painful sensation, if not disagreeable consequences, from the latter,
while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor; it
not being in my power, under the tenure by which the dower negroes are
held, to manumit them.”
Long before this he had recorded his resolve. “I never mean, unless
some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possess
another slave by purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some
plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law.”
Mrs. Washington, immediately after her husband’s death, learning from
his will that the only obstacle to the immediate emancipation of the
slaves was her right of dower, immediately relinquished that right, and
the slaves were at once emancipated.
The 12th of December, 1799, was chill and damp. Washington, however,
took his usual round on horseback to his farms, and returned late in
the afternoon, wet with sleet, and shivering with cold. Though the
snow was clinging to his hair behind when he came in, he sat down to
dinner without changing his dress. The next day, three inches of snow
whitened the ground, and the sky was clouded. Washington, feeling that
he had taken cold, remained by the fireside during the morning. As it
cleared up in the afternoon, he went out to superintend some work upon
the lawn. He was then hoarse, and the hoarseness increased as night
came on. He, however, took no remedy for it; saying, “I never take
anything to carry off a cold. Let it go as it came.”
He passed the evening as usual, reading the papers, answering
letters, and conversing with his family. About two o’clock the next
morning, Saturday, the 14th, he awoke in an acute chill, and was
seriously unwell. At sunrise, his physician, Dr. Craig, who resided
at Alexandria, was sent for. In the meantime, he was bled by one of
his overseers, but with no relief, as he rapidly grew worse. Dr. Craig
reached Mount Vernon at eleven o’clock, and immediately bled his
patient again, but without effect. Two consulting physicians arrived
during the day: and, as the difficulty in breathing and swallowing
rapidly increased, venesection was again attempted. It is evident that
Washington then considered his case doubtful. He examined his will,
and destroyed some papers which he did not wish to have preserved.
His sufferings from inflammation of the throat, and struggling for
breath, as the afternoon wore away, became quite severe. Still he
retained his mental faculties unimpaired, and spoke briefly of his
approaching death and burial. About four o’clock in the afternoon, he
said to Dr. Craig: “I die hard; but I am not afraid to go. I believed,
from my first attack, that I should not survive it: my breath cannot
last long.” About six o’clock, his physician asked him if he would sit
up in his bed. He held out his hands, and was raised upon his pillow,
when he said: “I feel that I am going. I thank you for your attentions.
You had better not take any more trouble about me, but let me go off
quietly. I cannot last long.”
He then sank back upon his pillow, and made several unavailing attempts
to speak intelligibly. About ten o’clock, he said: “I am just going.
Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault
until three days after I am dead. Do you understand me?” To the reply,
“Yes, sir,” he remarked, “It is well.” These were the last words he
uttered. Soon after this he gently expired, in the sixty-eighth year of
his age.
At the moment of his death, Mrs. Washington sat in silent grief at the
foot of his bed. “Is he gone?” she asked in a firm and collected voice.
The physician, unable to speak, gave a silent signal of assent. “’Tis
well,” she added, in the same untremulous utterance. “All is now over.
I shall soon follow him. I have no more trials to pass through.”
On the 18th, his remains were deposited in the tomb at Mount Vernon,
where they now repose, enshrined in a nation’s love; and his fame will
forever, as now, fill the world.[166]
FOOTNOTES
[1] “There is no doubt that the politics of the family determined the
two brothers, John and Lawrence, to emigrate to Virginia; that colony
being the favorite resort of the Cavaliers, during the government of
Cromwell, as New England was the retreat of the Puritans, in the period
which preceded the Commonwealth.”--_Life of Washington_, by Edward
Everett, p. 24.
[2] The pleasing story may easily be perverted. A little boy, having
read it, deliberately took his hatchet, went into the garden, and
utterly destroyed a valuable young pear tree. Then entering the house,
he said, while his face was beaming with satisfaction, “Grandpapa, it
was I who spoiled your pear tree.” Inexpressible was the astonishment
and chagrin of my dear little grandson, on receiving a severe
reprimand, and a prohibition from again going into the garden for a
week. He could not understand why he should be censured, for that for
which George Washington was so abundantly praised.
[3] “During the last summer that he was at school, we find him
surveying the fields around the school house, and in the adjoining
plantations, of which the boundaries, angles, and measurements, the
plots and calculations, are entered with formality and precision in
his books. He used logarithms, and proved the accuracy of his work by
different methods.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 6.
[4] There were fifty-four of these rules. All were important. We give a
few as specimens.
Read no letters, books, or papers, in company. But when there is a
necessity for doing it you must ask leave.
Show yourself not glad at the misfortune of another, though he were
your enemy.
Strive not with your superiors, in argument, but always submit your
judgment to others with modesty.
Use no reproachful language against any one.
Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own
reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, nor at the table. Speak
not of melancholy things, as death and wounds, and if others mention
them, change, if you can, the discourse.
When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and disturb not the
audience. If any hesitate in his words, help him not, nor prompt him
without being desired. Interrupt him not, nor answer him till his
speech be ended.
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire
called conscience.
[5] “At the age of fifteen, Washington received the appointment of
midshipman, in the British navy, but surrendered it, at the earnest
desire of his mother.”--_National Portrait Gallery_, vol. i. p. 3.
[6] “Lord Fairfax was a man of cultivated mind, educated at Oxford, the
associate of the wits in London, the author of one or two papers in the
“Spectator,” and a _habitué_ of the polite circles of the metropolis.
A disappointment in love is said to have cast a shadow over his after
life, and to have led him to pass his time in voluntary exile on his
Virginia estates.”--Everett’s _Life of Washington_, p. 41.
[7] Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1498, sailed from Bristol, England,
with two ships, in the month of May. He first made land on the coast of
Labrador. He was seeking a passage to India. Cruising along the shores
of Nova Scotia, and the whole length of the coast of Maine, he rounded
Cape Cod, and continued his voyage to the latitude of Cape Hatteras.
Thence he entered upon his homeward voyage.--Galvano’s _Discoveries of
the World_, p. 88. London, 1601.
[8] “The French insisted on the right of discovery and occupancy.
Father Marquette, La Salle, and others, they said, had descended the
Mississippi, and settlements had been made south of Lake Michigan and
on the Illinois river, years before any Englishman had set his foot
westward of the great mountains; and European treaties had repeatedly
recognized the title of France to all her actual possessions in
America. So far the ground was tenable.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_,
p. 20.
But he immediately adds, in apparent contradiction to these statements:
“It is clear that neither of the contending parties had any just claims
to the land about which they were beginning to kindle the flames of
war. They were both intruders upon the soil of the native occupants.”
This is hardly fair to either party. Neither France nor England
claimed the territory, to the exclusion of the rights of the original
inhabitants. Their only claim extended to the right of purchasing the
territory from the Indians, of trading with them, and of establishing
colonies. And this right all the maritime nations of Europe recognized.
[9] Galvano’s “Discoveries of the World,” p. 88, London; Biddle’s
“Memoir of Sebastian Cabot,” p. 221, London.
[10] “A Description of the English Province of Carolina,” by Daniel
Coxe, Esq., p. 113.
[11] M’Culloch’s Geographical Dictionary.
[12] “New France,” vol. iii. p. 380; “Annals of the West,” p. 57.
[13] “Plain Facts,” p. 55; Pownal’s “Memoir on Service in North
America.”
[14] “He (Washington) was furthermore to inquire, diligently and by
cautious means, into the number of the French troops that had crossed
the lakes, the reinforcements expected from Canada, how many forts
they had erected, and at what places, how they were garrisoned and
appointed, and their distances from each other; and, in short, to
procure all the intelligence possible respecting the condition and
object of the intruders.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 22.
[15] “French Creek, New York and Pennsylvania, rises in Chautauque
county, New York, passes into Pennsylvania, flowing by Meadville, and
enters Alleghany river, at Franklin, Venango county. It is about 100
miles long.”--M’Culloch’s _Geographical Dictionary_.
[16] Washington’s Journal of 1753.
[17] Gist’s Journal of the Expedition may be found in the Massachusetts
Historical Collections, 3d series, vol. v. pages 101–108.
[18] “The truth was, these Indians were in a very awkward position.
They could not resist the Europeans, and knew not which to side with;
so that a non-committal policy was much the safest; and they were wise
not to return, by Washington, as he desired they should do, the wampum
they received from the French, as that would be equivalent to breaking
with them.”--_Annals of the West_, p. 83.
[19] “M. de St. Pierre, the commandant, was an elderly person, a knight
of the military order of St. Louis, and courteous in his manners. At
the first interview, he promised immediate attention to the letter from
Governor Dinwiddie; and everything was provided for the convenience and
comfort of Major Washington and his party while they remained at the
fort.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 26.
[20] “Major Washington took an opportunity to look around and examine
the fort. His attendants were instructed to do the same. He was thus
enabled to bring away an accurate description of its form, size,
construction, cannon, and barracks. His men counted the canoes in
the river, and such as were partly finished.”--Sparks’ _Life of
Washington_, p. 27.
[21] Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 27.
[22] Such is the story as generally received, and as narrated,
essentially, by Mr. Gist. But it would appear that Washington had some
doubt whether the Indian were treacherously disposed. According to his
narrative the savage made no attempt to escape, but commenced reloading
his gun. He said that his wigwam was so near, that he fired the gun
to let the family know that he was coming. He had previously begged
them to go with him to his cabin, and to pass the night. A careful
examination of probabilities will lead many to believe that Washington
was correct in his supposition. Mr. Sparks writes, “Whether it was
the intention to kill either of them can only be conjectured. If it
were, he showed a degree of stupidity very different from the ordinary
cunning of the savage. They could only converse by signs and might
easily have entirely misunderstood each other.”
[23] “As soon as Washington returned with the letter of St. Pierre,
Governor Dinwiddie wrote to the Board of Trade, stating that the French
were building another fort at Venango, and that, in March, twelve or
fifteen hundred men would be ready to descend the Alleghany river with
their Indian allies, for which purpose three hundred canoes had been
collected; and that Logstown was then to be made head-quarters, while
forts were built in various other positions, and the whole country
occupied.”--_Annals of the West_, p, 84.
[24] “The Assembly was convened; and many of the most judicious members
expressed doubts whether the king of England had an unquestionable
claim to the valley, which France had discovered and occupied. ‘You
may well conceive,’ the governor wrote, ‘how I fired at this; that
an English legislature should presume to doubt the right of his
majesty to the interior parts of this continent, the back of his
dominions.’”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 35.
[25] It is said that there was a small party, of about forty men,
in the employ of the Ohio Company, who had commenced throwing up
entrenchments at the Fork. “On the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, then in
command, saw, upon the Alleghany, a sight that made his heart sink;
sixty bateaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men and deeply
laden with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surrender.
Ward tried to evade the act; but it would not do. Contrecœur, with
a thousand men about him, said ‘Evacuate,’ and the ensign dared not
refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and the next day was
bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the
Monongahela.”--_Annals of the West_, p. 87.
[26] It would seem that Washington had daily public prayers in the
camp, reading the service himself. Mr. Irving writes, “It certainly
was not one of the least striking pictures presented in this wild
campaign--the youthful commander presiding with calm seriousness over
a motley assemblage of half-equipped soldiery, leathern-clad hunters
and woodsmen, and painted savages with their wives and children,
and assisting them all in solemn devotion by his own example and
demeanor.”--_Life of Washington_, in two volumes, vol. i. p. 42.
[27] It is said, on the other hand, that the French commenced the
war by driving off the party under Ensign Ward, who was throwing up
intrenchments on the site of Fort Duquesne.
[28] The British admitted that so small a party, conducting a peace
commissioner with a summons, could not have intended a hostile attack;
but they affirmed that the French were spies. It is undoubtedly true
that they were to gain what information they could; as was the case
with Washington and his party when they visited the forts on French
Creek. This was the main object of Washington’s excursion. The summons
was a mere pretext.
[29] No transaction in the life of Washington has elicited more
passionate attack and defence than this. The French court published
a very full account of the occurrence in a duodecimo which was sent
to all the governments of Europe. It was entitled, “Mémoire contenant
le Précis des Faits, avec leurs Pièces justificatives, pour servir de
Réponse aux Observations envoyées, par les Ministres d’Angleterre, dans
les cours de l’Europe.” A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1756.
[30] “The site of this fort is three or four hundred yards south of
what is now called National Road, four miles from the foot of Laurel
Hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland at Wills’ Creek.”--Sparks’ _Life
of Washington_, p. 51.
[31] M. De Villiers, in his despatches to the French Government, wrote,
“We made the English consent to sign, that they had assassinated my
brother in his camp.”
[32] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 51.
[33] “A gentleman, who had heard that Colonel Washington had said that
he knew of no music so pleasing as the whistling of bullets, being
alone in conversation with him, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, asked him
whether it was as he had related. The general answered, ‘If I said so,
it was when I was young.’”--_Gordon’s History_, vol. ii. p. 203.
[34] “As late as 1754 all the French colonies, from the St. Lawrence to
the Gulf of Mexico, did not contain more than a hundred thousand white
inhabitants, while the inhabitants of the English colonies were then
estimated at twelve hundred thousand white and two hundred and fifty
thousand blacks.”--_History of the United States of America_, by Harvey
Prindle Peet, LL.D., p. 156.
[35] “It is evident that the sense of the people was but little
wakened to the necessity or importance of those enterprises against
the French; and that they looked upon them rather as the results of
political objects in Great Britain, than as immediately concerning
themselves.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 51.
[36] _Autobiography of Franklin_, Sparks’ edition, p. 90.
[37] “Braddock’s own secretary, William Shirley, wrote confidentially
to Governor Morris, ‘We have a general most judiciously chosen for
being disqualified for the service he is employed in, in almost every
respect.’”--_Colonial Records_, p. 405.
[38] Walpole wittily wrote, “The Duke of Brunswick is much dissatisfied
at the slowness of General Braddock, _who does not march as if he was
at all impatient to be scalped_.” This was unjust. Want of courage was
not one of the faults of General Braddock.
[39] Mr. Irving, writing of the assailants says, “They were not the
main force of the French, but a mere detachment of 72 Regulars, 146
Canadians, and 637 Indians, 855 in all, led by Captain de Beaujeu.
Such was the scanty force which the imagination of the panic-stricken
army had magnified into a great host, and from which they had fled,
in breathless terror, abandoning the whole frontier.”--_Life of
Washington_, vol. i. p. 206.
[40] There can be no possible excuse for the French officers, in
permitting this barbarity. The Indians were their allies, instigated to
the war by their influence, marching under their banners, led by their
officers, and paid by their money. They were therefore responsible
for the conduct of these their allies. To permit them, under the very
walls of Fort Duquesne, to put the captives to death by torture, was an
atrocious crime meriting the execration of humanity.
[41] The plan of the British campaign of 1755, in which Braddock met
his disaster, was four-fold: first to capture Nova Scotia; second, to
drive the French from their posts on Lake Champlain; third, to seize
the important French fort at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake
George, and fourth, to expel all French settlers from the frontiers
of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and take entire possession of the Ohio
valley.--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 152.
[42] Mr. Sparks gives the name, Miss Mary Phillips; Mr. Everett spells
it Phillipse; and Mr. Irving gives it as Philipse.
[43] “He had before felt the influence of the tender passion. At
the age of seventeen he was smitten by the graces of a fair one,
whom he called a ‘Lowland beauty,’ and whose praises he recorded in
glowing strains, while wandering with his surveyor’s compass among
the Alleghany Mountains. On that occasion he wrote desponding letters
to a friend, and indited plaintive verses, but never ventured to
reveal his emotions to the lady who was unconsciously the cause of his
pains.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 73.
[44] _Life of George Washington_, by Edward Everett, p. 87.
[45] “One is tempted to smile at this tirade about the ‘insolence of
the people,’ and this zeal for ‘his majesty’s service,’ on the part of
Washington; but he was yet a young man and a young officer. What he
thus terms insolence was the dawning spirit of independence, which he
was afterward the foremost to cherish and promote.”--Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. p. 215.
[46] Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 81.
[47] Hazard’s “Register of Pennsylvania,” vol. v. p. 252.
[48] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 230.
[49] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 94.
[50] Washington, commenting upon this movement of Major Grant, writes:
“From all accounts I can collect, it appears very clear that this was a
very ill-concerted, or a very ill-executed plan. Perhaps both. But it
seems to be very generally acknowledged that Major Grant exceeded his
orders.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 286.
[51] An old negro servant of the household of Mrs. Custis gave the
following account of the impression Washington produced upon the family:
“Never seed the like, sir--never the like of him, though I have seen
many in my day--so tall, so straight! And then, sir, he sat on a horse
and rode with such an air! Ah, sir, he was like no one else! Many of
the grandest gentlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wedding; but none
looked like the man himself.”--_Soldier and Patriot_, p. 58.
[52] William Wirt, in his Life of Patrick Henry, has assigned to this
date, the enthusiastic reception of Washington by the Assembly. Others,
as we think more correctly, have given it the date to which we have
assigned it in this volume.
[53] To a nephew, who was entering the Assembly for the first time, he
wrote, “The only advice I will offer, if you have a mind to command the
attention of the House, is to speak seldom, but on important subjects,
except such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, in the
former case make yourself perfectly master of the subject. Never
exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with diffidence.
A dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always
accompanied with disgust.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 101.
[54] “Vestryman--Episcopal church; one belonging to a select number of
persons, in each parish, who manage its temporal concerns.”--_Webster._
[55] “His stable was well filled, and admirably regulated. His stud was
thorough-bred and in excellent order. His household books contained
registers of the names, ages, and marks of his favorite horses; such
as Ajax, Blueskin, Valiant, Magnolia (an Arab), etc. Also his dogs,
chiefly fox-hounds, Vulcan, Singer, Ringwood, Sweet-lips, Forester,
Music, Rockwood, and Truelove.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i.
p. 314.
[56] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 315.
[57] Speech at laying the corner stone of the Washington Monument, by
Robert C. Winthrop.
[58] “My manner of life,” Washington wrote to a friend, “is plain; and
I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton
are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them, are
always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed.”--_Soldier
and Patriot_, p. 62.
[59] “Washington was fond of hunting, and sport of all kinds. He kept
a beautiful barge on the Potomac, rowed by six negroes in uniform
dress.”--_Soldier and Patriot_, p. 61.
[60] Though the first burst of opposition to the Stamp Act came
from Virginia, the New Englanders were the first to take the field
against the whole project of Parliamentary taxation.--See Irving’s
_Washington_, Mount Vernon edition, vol i. p. 110.
[61] “Parliamentary Register,” 1776.
[62] “Writings of Washington,” Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 345, note.
[63] “He had some few intimates in his neighborhood, who accorded with
him in sentiment. One of the ablest and most efficient of these was Mr.
George Mason, with whom he had occasional conversations on the state of
affairs.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 341.
[64] Junius, in his celebrated letters, describes Botetourt as “a
cringing, bowing, fawning, sword-bearing courtier.” The witty Horace
Walpole wrote of him, “If his graces do not captivate them (the
Virginians), he will enrage them to fury; for I take all his _douceur_
to be enamelled on iron.”--_Grenville Papers_, vol. iv. p. 330, note.
[65] The wits of London quite amused themselves in lampoons upon this
extraordinary splendor of outfit, of “a minister plenipotentiary to the
savage Cherokees.”
[66] Peyton Randolph was one of the most distinguished of the Virginia
patriots. He was attorney-general of the Province, and was subsequently
elected President of the Second Colonial Congress.
[67] Holmes’ _American Annals_, vol. ii. p. 173.
[68] These nations, or tribes, consisted of the Mohawks, the Oneidas,
the Onondagas, the Senecas, the Cayugas, and the Tuscaroras.--See
Drake’s _Book of the Indians_, B. v. p. 2.
[69] Dr. James Craik was a Scotchman by birth, and a very noble man.
He accompanied Washington in the unfortunate expedition rendered
memorable by the disaster of Jumonville. Washington cherished, for him,
a life-long friendship.
[70] “At that time (1770) there were no inhabitants on the Ohio,
below Pittsburg, except the natives of the forest. A few traders
had wandered into those regions, and land speculators had sent out
emissaries to explore the country; but no permanent settlements had
been formed.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 111.
[71] The Muskingum is one of the largest rivers that runs wholly in the
State of Ohio. It flows down, from its sources far away in the north,
with a gentle current, over a pebbly bottom, and is navigable for large
boats, for a distance of about one hundred miles. The beautiful city of
Marietta now stands at its mouth, where the wigwam of the Indian only
was seen at the time of Washington’s visit.--M’Culloch’s _Geographical
Dictionary_.
[72] The Great Kanawha, after flowing through a garden-like region four
hundred miles in extent, enters the Ohio about two hundred and fifty
miles below Pittsburg.--M’Culloch’s _Geographical Dictionary_.
[73] “_To Dissolve_; to bring to an end by separating the parts or
dispersing the members of; to terminate; to destroy; to cause to
disappear; as, to _dissolve_ parliament.
“_To Prorogue_; to continue from one session to another; to adjourn for
an indefinite time; applied to the English Parliament.”--_Webster._
[74] Washington’s diary testifies that he fasted rigidly, and attended
divine worship in the Episcopal Church. He still retained friendly
intercourse with the Dunmore family.
[75] See information given to the elder Adams, by Mr. Lynch of South
Carolina.--_Adams’ Diary._
[76] “Washington’s Writings,” by Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 329.
[77] “It is such an Assembly as never before came together, on a
sudden, in any part of the world. Here are fortunes, abilities,
learning, eloquence, acuteness, equal to any I ever met with in
my life. Here is a diversity of religions, education, manners,
interests, such as it would seem impossible to unite in one plan of
conduct.”--_Diary of John Adams._
[78] The illustrious William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, whose espousal, in
the House of Lords, of the cause of the colonists has won for him the
eternal gratitude of every American, said to the Lords, in Parliament:
“When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America;
when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot
but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself I
must declare and avow that, in the master states of the world I know
not the people or senate who, in such a complication of difficult
circumstances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America
assembled in General Congress at Philadelphia.”
[79] “Washington’s Writings,” by Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 405.
[80] It has generally been understood, as is stated here, that Major
Pitcairn gave these orders. But Mr. Elias Phinney, in his very
carefully prepared History of the Battle at Lexington, writes:
“The British troops came up shouting, and almost upon the run, till
within about ten rods of our line. Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel
Smith, advanced a few yards and exclaimed, ‘Lay down your arms and
disperse, you damned rebels!--Rush on, my boys. Fire!’ The order not
being instantly obeyed, he again called out brandishing his sword with
great fury, ‘Fire! God damn you, fire.’ The first platoon then fired
over the heads of our men. Colonel Smith repeating his order to fire,
a general discharge, from the front ranks, was made directly into
the American ranks. On receiving the fire of the first platoon, the
Provincials imagined the regulars had fired nothing but powder, and
did not offer to return it. But on the second discharge, seeing some
of their numbers fall and others wounded, they no longer hesitated as
to their right to resist, and some of them immediately returned the
fire.”--_History of the Battle of Lexington_, by Elias Phinney, p. 20.
[81] It is difficult to find any two narratives of these events which
will agree in the minute details. It was a scene of awful confusion,
and honest men would differ in the accounts they gave. But there can be
no question whatever, that the all-important general facts are as here
recorded.--See _History of the Battle of Lexington_, by Elias Phinney,
and an admirable account of the expedition by Frederick Hudson in
_Harper’s Magazine_, vol. 50.
[82] An eye-witness writes: “When the distressed troops reached the
hollow square, formed by the fresh troops for their reception, they
were obliged to lie down upon the ground, their tongues hanging out of
their mouths like those of the dogs after the chase.”
[83] See minute and admirable account by Mr. Frederick Hudson, in
_Harper’s Magazine_, No. 300.
[84] John Adams wrote to a friend: “There is something charming to me
in the conduct of Washington; a gentleman of the first fortunes on the
continent, leaving his delicious retirement, his family and friends,
sacrificing his ease, and hazarding all in the cause of his country.
His views are noble and disinterested. He declared, when he accepted
the mighty trust, that he would lay before us an exact account of his
expenses, and not accept a shilling pay.”
[85] “Soldier and Patriots,” by F. W. Owen, p. 93; Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. p. 478.
[86] The reader, who is interested in obtaining a more minute detail
of the incidents of this momentous battle, will find them quite fully
presented, in Mr. Irving’s excellent _Life of Washington_.
[87] General Schuyler was a native-born American, descended from one of
the most illustrious families. He had a large estate, near Saratoga,
and was highly educated, particularly in all branches relating to
military science. He was a tried patriot. In Congress and elsewhere he
had proved himself the able and eloquent advocate of American rights.
See Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. (Mount Vernon Edition) p.
158.
[88] The house stood on the Watertown road, about half a mile from
the college. It subsequently was long known as the Cragie House. “The
Cragie House is associated with American literature, through some of
its subsequent occupants. Mr. Edward Everett resided in it the first
year or two after his marriage. Later, Mr. Jared Sparks, during part of
the time that he was preparing his collection of Washington’s writings,
editing a volume or two in the very room from which they were written.
Next came Mr. Worcester, author of the pugnacious dictionary, and of
many excellent books. And lastly, Longfellow, the poet, who purchased
the house of the heirs of Mr. Cragie, and refitted it.”--Irving’s _Life
of Washington_, Mount Vernon Edition, vol. i. p. 167.
[89] Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 136.
[90] “General Green was a son of Rhode Island, of Quaker parentage.
He was a man of fine personal appearance, of excellent character, and
of superior natural abilities. His thirst for knowledge led him to
avail himself of every opportunity for mental improvement. He thus
became an intelligent gentleman. His troops were pronounced to be
the best disciplined and the best appointed in the army. He stepped
at once into confidence of the Commander-in-Chief, which he never
forfeited, but became one of his most attached, faithful, and efficient
coadjutors.”--_Soldiers and Patriots_, p. 96.
[91] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, Mount Vernon Edition, vol. i. p.
166.
[92] “Horatio Gates was an Englishman who adopted the cause of America.
He had distinguished himself in the West Indies. But England did not
recognize his claims, as much as he thought she ought to have done. He
therefore went out to America and bought land in Virginia. When the war
began, he seemed to see in it a more secure means to self-advancement
than he had found before, and therefore he joined in it.”--_Soldier and
Patriot_, p. 95.
[93] “Lee, we are told, scoffed with his usual profaneness. Heaven,
he said, was ever found favorable to strong battalions. Lee was an
Englishman by birth. The Indians called him, from his impetuosity,
_Boiling Water_.”--_Graydon’s Memoirs_, p. 138.
[94] Thatcher’s “Military Journal,” p. 37.
[95] “These principles set at naught all the rules of honorable
warfare; and indicated that the highest officers in the American
army, if captured, would be treated as culprits.”--Sparks’ _Life of
Washington_, p. 142.
[96] See this correspondence, more fully given in Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. Mount Vernon edition, p. 172, 173.
[97] “The order was countermanded while the prisoners were on the
road to Northampton. ‘The General further requests,’ wrote his
secretary Colonel Reed, ‘that every other indulgence, consistent
with their security, may be shown to them. The general does not
doubt that your conduct toward them will be such as to compel their
grateful acknowledgments that Americans are as merciful as they are
brave.’”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 142.
[98] “In fact they (the British) never meditated an attack, unless
reinforcements should arrive. General Gage wrote to Lord Dartmouth,
that such an attempt, if successful, would be fruitless, as there were
neither horses nor carriages for transportation, and no other end
could be answered than to drive the Americans from one stronghold to
another.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 146.
[99] “The enterprise,” Washington wrote, “was thought too dangerous.
Perhaps it was. Perhaps the irksomeness of my situation led me to
undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I did not think so.
And I am sure yet that the enterprise, if it had been undertaken with
resolution, must have succeeded. Without it, any would fail.”--Sparks’
_Life of Washington_, p. 160.
[100] As Canada was originally settled by the French, the Roman
Catholic religion almost universally prevailed there.
[101] General Schuyler wrote to Washington, “I wish I had no occasion
to send my dear general this melancholy account. My amiable friend, the
gallant Montgomery, is no more. The brave Arnold is wounded; and we
have met with a severe check in our attack upon Quebec. May Heaven be
graciously pleased that this misfortune terminate here. I tremble for
our people in Canada.”
[102] “The British ministry have, in latter days, been exculpated
from the charge of issuing such a desolating order as that said to
have been reported by Lieutenant Mount. The orders, under which that
officer acted, we are told, emanated from General Gage and Admiral
Graves.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 188.
[103] _Holmes’ Annals_, vol. ii. p. 220.
[104] “American Archives,” vol. iii. p. 1145.
[105] “Poor Gage is to be the scapegoat, for what was a reason against
employing him--incapacity.”--_Horace Walpole._
[106] William Howe was a man of fine presence and of winning manners.
He was brother of Lord Howe, who fell on the banks of Lake George, in
the French war. He was one of the most attractive of young men, and had
secured, to a wonderful degree, the affection of the American people.
A sorrowful feeling pervaded the country when it found that General
William Howe was fighting against the Americans at the battle of
Bunker’s Hill. In an address from Congress to the people of Ireland it
was said, “America is amazed to find the name of Howe on the catalogue
of her enemies. She loved his brother.”
[107] “American Archives,” 4th series, vol. iv. p. 1178.
[108] From the heights of Dorchester the admiral’s fleet, riding at
anchor in the harbor, could be bombarded, and destroyed. Then the
British army might be captured. But this would probably be at the
expense of laying the whole town in ashes. Lord Admiral Howe was
brother of Sir William.
[109] Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p. 155.
[110] Memoranda by Hon. Israel Trask.
[111] Letter of Charles Lee to Richard Henry Lee.--_Am. Archives_, 4th
series, vol. iv. p. 248.
[112] “Knox was one of those providential characters which spring up in
emergencies, as if they were formed by and for the occasion. A thriving
bookseller in Boston, he had thrown up business, to take up arms for
the liberties of his country. He was one of the patriots who fought on
Bunker Hill; since when, he had aided in planning the defences of the
camp before Boston.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 190.
[113] “American Archives,” 4th series, iii. 1281.
[114] General Henry Clinton was grandson of the Earl of Lincoln, and
son of George Clinton, who had been the crown-appointed governor of New
York, for ten years from 1743.--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i.
p. 163.
[115] “General Lee was despatched, with instructions from the
Commander-in-Chief, to raise volunteers in Connecticut, hasten forward
to New York, call to his aid other troops from New Jersey, put the city
in the best posture of defence which his means would permit, disarm
the tories, and other persons inimical to the rights and liberties of
America, and guard the fortifications on Hudson river.”--Sparks’ _Life
of Washington_, p. 157.
[116] “American Archives,” 5th series, iv. 941.
[117] To while away weary hours the spirit of gambling was prevailing
ruinously in the camp. Clouds of gloom were settling down over the
public mind. Washington, who felt most deeply the need of Divine favor,
by an order of the day, issued on the 26th of February, forbade these
demoralizing practices. He wrote:
“At this time of public distress, men may find enough to do in the
service of God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vice
and immorality.”
Six days after the issue of this order, Washington’s batteries were
planted triumphantly on Dorchester Heights.--Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. p. 220.
[118] “Washington consulted with such of the general officers as he
could immediately assemble. The paper was not addressed to him, nor
to any one else. It was not authenticated by the signature of General
Howe. Nor was there any other act obliging that commander to fulfil
the promise asserted to have been made by him.”--Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. Mount Vernon edition, p. 223.
[119] Letter to John A. Washington.--_Am. Archives_, v. 560.
[120] A British officer wrote, in reference to this scene, so joyful,
yet so sad. “The confusion, unavoidable to such a disaster, will make
you conceive how much must be forgot, where every man had a private
concern. The necessary care and distress of the women, children, sick
and wounded, required every assistance that could be given. It was
not like breaking up a camp, where every man knows his duty. It was
like departing from your country, with your wives, your servants,
your household furniture and all your incumbrances. The officers,
who felt the disgrace of their retreat, did their utmost to keep up
appearances.”--_Remembrancer_, vol. iii. p. 108.
[121] Lee’s Memoirs, p. 162.
[122] Thatcher’s “Military Journal,” p. 50.
[123] General Charles Lee was in Virginia, when he heard of the
evacuation. The following characteristic letter was from his pen. “My
dear General: I most sincerely congratulate you. I congratulate the
public on the great and glorious event. It will be a most bright page
in the annals of America; and a most abominable one in those of the
beldam Britain. Go on, my dear general. Crown yourself with glory; and
establish the liberties and lustre of your country on a foundation more
permanent than the Capitol rock.”
[124] “A deep plot, originating with Governor Tryon, was defeated by
timely and fortunate discovery. His agents were found enlisting men in
the American camp, and enticing them with rewards. It was a part of the
plot to seize General Washington, and carry him to the enemy.”--Sparks’
_Life of Washington_, p. 169.
[125] While a lad, in a counting house at Santa Cruz, he wrote, “I
contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk, to which my fortune
condemns me. I would willingly risk my life, though not my character,
to exalt my station. I mean to prepare the way for futurity. I am no
philosopher, and may justly be said to build castles in the air. I wish
there was a war.”
[126] Orderly Book, July 9; Sparks iii. 456.
[127] “Washington received the applause of Congress and of the public,
for sustaining the dignity of his station. His conduct, in this
particular, was recommended as a model to all American officers in
corresponding with the enemy. And Lord Howe informed his government
that thenceforth, it would be polite to change the superscription of
his letters.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. 248.
[128] “History of the Civil War in America,” Dublin, 1779; “Annual
Register.”
[129] Orderly Book, Aug. 3, 1776. _Writings of Washington_, vol. xiv.
p. 28.
[130] History cannot record, neither can imagination conceive the
woes of these households. Husbands and fathers were slain. They were
without employment, in abject poverty, and driven houseless, foodless,
clothesless, from their homes. In view of these awful tragedies of this
sad world, which have continued through dreary centuries, one is led to
exclaim, in anguish, “O Lord! how long! how long!”
[131] Anticipating this movement Washington had stationed a body of
troops there and thrown up breastworks. General Greene was placed in
command. Falling sick of a fever he was succeeded by General Sullivan,
who was succeeded by General Putnam.
[132] “American Archives,” 5th series ii. 108.
[133] “This retreat, in its plan, execution and success, has been
regarded as one of the most remarkable military events in history,
and as reflecting the highest credit on the talents and skill of the
commander. So intense was the anxiety of Washington, so unceasing his
exertions that, for forty-eight hours, he did not close his eyes, and
rarely dismounted from his horse.”--Sparks’ _Life of Washington_, p.
179.
[134] Washington wrote to Congress, “If we should be obliged to abandon
the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy. They
would derive great convenience from it, on the one hand, and much
property would be destroyed on the other. At the present, I dare say
the enemy mean to preserve it if they can.”
[135] In a somewhat similar strain of sympathy General Greene wrote:
“People coming from home, with all the tender feelings of domestic
life, are not sufficiently fortified with natural courage, to stand the
shocking scenes of war. To march over dead men, to hear without concern
the groans of the wounded--I say few men can stand such scenes, unless
steeled by habit or fortified by military pride.”
[136] On the 30th of July, 1776, Colonel Palfrey went on board Lord
Howe’s ship to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. The noble Admiral
was careful to speak of the American Commander-in-Chief as _General_
Washington; he declared that he held his person and character in
the highest esteem, and that his heart was deeply touched by the
affectionate allusion of Washington and of Congress, to his elder
brother Lord George, who fell at Ticonderoga. With a moistened eye he
alluded to the fact that the province of Massachusetts had erected a
monument to his brother in Westminster Abbey. In closing the interview
he sent his kind regards to Washington, and added, “I hope that America
will one day or other be convinced that, in our affection for that
country, we are also Howes.”
[137] It would seem that God must have stricken the British leaders
with gross incapacity, else with such a powerful fleet and with
such a numerous highly-disciplined, and thoroughly equipped army,
the feebleness of half-starved, half-clothed, and not half-equipped
American farmers would have been entirely crushed out in a week. No one
familiar with military affairs can examine these operations without
_amazement_ that the Americans could have maintained so unequal a
conflict. There is nothing to be compared to it in all the annals of
warfare. For be it remembered that neither the British officers nor
soldiers were cowards. Men more reckless of danger never stormed a
battery.
[138] It requires a heart hardened by the horrors of war to see,
unmoved, an overpowering band of soldiers, maddened by the conflict,
plunging their bayonets into the faces, bosoms, and bowels of farmers,
boys, crying for mercy, and who have but just come from their peaceful
firesides.
[139] Washington wrote to General Greene, on the 8th of November: “I
am inclined to think that it will not be prudent to hazard the men and
stores at Mount Washington. But, as you are on the spot I leave it to
you to give such orders, as to evacuating Mount Washington, as you may
judge best; and so far revoking the orders given to Colonel Magaw, to
defend it to the last.”
[140] “The people of New Jersey beheld the commander in chief
retreating through their country, with a handful of men, weary,
way-worn, dispirited, without tents, without clothing, many of them
barefooted, exposed to wintry weather, and driven from port to port,
by a well clad, triumphant force tricked out in all the glittering
bravery, of war.”--Irving’s _Life of Washington_, p. 304.
[141] American Archives, 5th series, iii. 1037.
[142] American Archives, 5th series, iii. 1265. Letter of Joseph
Trumbull to Governor Trumbull.
[143] From the tavern at Baskinridge Lee wrote to General Gates: “The
ingenious manœuvre at Fort Washington has completely unhinged the
goodly fabric we had been building. There never was so damned a stroke.
_Entre nous_ (between us) a certain great man is damnably deficient.”
[144] In 1676, the present territory of New Jersey was set off in two
great divisions called East and West Jersey. Each belonged to different
proprietors. In the year 1702, the two provinces were united. But
still, in all the early annals, the province was spoken of as “the
Jerseys.”
[145] Washington, ever magnanimous, comments as follows on the capture
of Lee, who he knew was trying to supplant him. He wrote to his brother
Augustine, “This is an additional misfortune and the more vexatious as
it was by his own folly and imprudence, and without a view to effect
any good, that he was taken. As he went to lodge three miles out of his
camp, a rascally tory rode in the night, to the enemy, who sent a party
of light horse, that seized him and carried him off with every mark of
indignity and triumph.”
[146] The Committee of Congress who communicated to Washington the vote
conferring upon him these powers, added: “Happy is it for our country
that the general of their forces can safely be intrusted with the most
unlimited power, and neither personal security, liberty nor property,
be in the least degree endangered thereby.”--_American Archives_, 5th
series, iii. 1510.
[147] It is not strange that the soldiers should have been disposed
to revile the Hessian captives for having hired themselves to aid the
British to rob the Americans of their liberties. One of the Hessian
soldiers wrote in his journal:
“General Washington had written notices put up in town and country,
that we were innocent of this war, and had joined in it not of our
free will but through compulsion. We should therefore not be treated
as enemies but as friends. From this time things went better with us.
Every day many came out of the towns, old and young, rich and poor,
and treated us with kindness and humanity.” _Tagebuch des corporals
Johannes Reuber._
[148] When General Howe, in New York, heard of the affair at Trenton,
he raised his hands in amazement, exclaiming: “Is it possible that
three veteran regiments of the British army, who make war their
profession, can have laid down their arms to a ragged and undisciplined
militia, with scarcely any loss on either side.”
[149] The Italian historian _Botta_, in his admirable story of the
American War writes, “Achievements so astonishing, gained for the
American commander a very great reputation, and were regarded with
wonder by all nations, as well as by the Americans. All declared him
to be the saviour of his country; and proclaimed him equal to the
most renowned commanders of antiquity.”--_Storia della Guerra dell’
Independenza degli Stati Uniti d’America_, Tom. ii. lib. 7.
[150] The officers and soldiers were confined in the hulks of old ships
which were anchored in the harbor, and which were, not inappropriately,
called _floating-hells_. They were destitute of every comfort. A
dreadful malady broke out among them, and they perished by hundreds.
[151] Kosciusko brought a letter from Franklin to Washington. “What do
you seek here;” inquired the commander-in-chief. “To fight for American
independence,” was the reply. “What can you do?” said Washington. “Try
me,” was the simple response. There was something in the bearing of
the man which won the confidence of Washington. He received him as an
aide-de-camp. In the hour of trial, he was never found wanting.
[152] “Lafayette from the first attached himself to Washington with an
affectionate reverence which could not be mistaken; and soon won his
way into a heart which, with all its apparent coldness, was naturally
confiding and required sympathy and friendship.”--Irving’s _Life of
Washington_, vol. i. p. 375.
[153] Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 396.
[154] General Burgoyne was a natural son of Lord Bingley. He was of
active mind, and ready wit, and as a man of fashion, in all convivial
scenes, stood preëminent. Gambling was then the common vice of the
British aristocracy. But Junius accuses Burgoyne of cheating at cards.
Both Washington and Napoleon endeavored to drive the foul practice
of gambling from their armies. But for this vice, the brave and able
General Arnold would probably now be enrolled among the most prominent
of American patriots.
[155] “Lieutenant Jones is said to have been completely broken in
spirit by the shock of her death. Procuring her scalp, with its long
silken tresses, he brooded over it in anguish, and preserved it as a
sad, but precious relic. Disgusted with the service, he threw up his
commission and retired to Canada; never marrying, but living to be an
old man, taciturn and melancholy and haunted by painful recollections.”
Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 378.
[156] “Old neighbors met in deadly feud; former intimacy gave
bitterness to present hate; the bodies of combatants were afterward
found, on the field of battle, grappled in death, with the hand still
grasping the knife plunged in a neighbor’s heart.
“The very savages seemed inspired with unusual ferocity, by the
confusion and deadly struggle around them, and the sight of their
prime warriors and favorite chiefs shot down. In their blind fury they
attacked the white men indiscriminately, friend or foe. So that in this
chance medley fight many of Sir John’s greens were slain by his own
Indian allies.” Irving’s _Life of Washington_, vol. i. p. 380.
[157] The British officers did not very highly esteem their German
allies. “The very hat and sword of one of them,” it was said, “weighed
nearly as much as the whole equipment of a British soldier. The worst
British regiment in the service would march two miles to their one.”
[158] Washington has been censured, by foreign writers, for fighting
this battle under such disadvantages. But Congress and the country were
clamorous for a battle. Had he surrendered Philadelphia to the English
without firing a gun, it would have been the ruin of his reputation.
The defeat was certainly less injurious upon the public mind than a
continued retreat would have been.
[159] In reference to this conflict, Washington wrote to the President
of Congress, “But though we fought under many disadvantages, and were,
from the causes above mentioned, obliged to retire, our loss of men is
not, I am persuaded, very considerable. I believe much less than that
of the enemy. We have lost seven or eight pieces of cannon, according
to the best information I am able, at present, to obtain. The baggage
having been previously moved off, is all secure, saving the men’s
blankets, which, being at their backs, many of them are doubtless lost.
Divers officers were wounded, and some slain; but the number of either
cannot now be ascertained.”
[160] Burgoyne wrote: “From the 20th of September to the 7th of
October, the armies were so near that not a night passed without
firing, and sometimes concerted attacks on our pickets. I do not
believe that either officer or soldier ever slept, in that interval,
without his clothes; or that any general officer or commander of a
regiment passed a single night without being constantly upon his legs,
occasionally at different hours, and constantly an hour before day
light.”--_Burgoyne’s Expedition_, p. 166.
[161] The surrender of Burgoyne, though mainly the result of
Washington’s far-seeing plans, had suddenly trumped up Gates into a
_quasi_ rival.--_Irving’s Life of Washington_, Vol. II., Mount Vernon
edition, p. 429.
[162] _Letters to the President of Congress.--Sparks’ Correspondence,
Vol. V._, p. 71.
[163] In Washington’s account of the battle he wrote: “Had it not been
for a thick fog, which rendered it so dark at times, that we were not
able to distinguish friend from foe at the distance of thirty yards,
we should, I believe, have made a decisive and glorious day of it.
Providence designed it otherwise. For after we had driven the enemy a
mile or two, after they were in the utmost confusion, and flying before
us in most places, after we were upon the point, as it appeared to
everybody, of grasping a complete victory, our own troops took fright,
and fled with precipitation and disorder.”
[164] A British officer wrote: “In this action the Americans, though
repulsed, showed themselves a formidable adversary, capable of
charging with resolution and retreating in good order. The hope,
therefore, of any action with them as decisive, and likely to put a
speedy termination to the war, was exceedingly abated.”--_Civil War in
America, Vol. I., p. 269._
[165] _Life of Talbot_, by Henry T. Tuckerman, p. 31.
[166] _Abbot’s Lives of the Presidents._
Transcriber’s Notes
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