MEASURES OF GENERAL HOWE—DESECRATION OF CHURCHES—THREE
PROCLAMATIONS—SEIZURE OF TORIES—WANT OF ARTILLERY—HENRY KNOX, THE
ARTILLERIST—HIS MISSION TO TICONDEROGA—RE-ENLISTMENT OF TROOPS—LACK OF
PUBLIC SPIRIT—COMMENTS OF GENERAL GREENE.
The measures which General Howe had adopted after taking command in
Boston, rejoiced the royalists, seeming to justify their anticipations.
He proceeded to strengthen the works on Bunker’s Hill and Boston Neck,
and to clear away houses and throw up redoubts on eminences within the
town. The patriot inhabitants were shocked by the desecration of the Old
South Church, which for more than a hundred years had been a favorite
place of worship, where some of the most eminent divines had officiated.
The pulpit and pews were now removed, the floor was covered with earth,
and the sacred edifice was converted into a riding-school for Burgoyne’s
light dragoons. To excuse its desecration, it was spoken of scoffingly
as a “meeting-house, where sedition had often been preached.”
The North Church, another “meeting-house,” was entirely demolished and
used for fuel. “Thus,” says a chronicler of the day, “thus are our
houses devoted to religious worship, profaned and destroyed by the
subjects of his royal majesty.”[24]
About the last of October, Howe issued three proclamations. The first
forbade all persons to leave Boston without his permission under pain of
military execution; the second forbade any one, so permitted, to take
with him more than five pounds sterling, under pain of forfeiting all
the money found upon his person and being subject to fine and
imprisonment; the third called upon the inhabitants to arm themselves
for the preservation of order within the town; they to be commanded by
officers of his appointment.
Washington had recently been incensed by the conflagration of Falmouth;
the conduct of Governor Dunmore who had proclaimed martial law in
Virginia, and threatened ruin to the patriots, had added to his
provocation; the measures of General Howe seemed of the same harsh
character, and he determined to retaliate.
“Would it not be prudent,” writes he to Governor Trumbull of
Connecticut, “to seize those tories who have been, are, and we know will
be active against us? Why should persons who are preying upon the vitals
of their country, be suffered to stalk at large, whilst we know they
will do us every mischief in their power?”
In this spirit he ordered General Sullivan, who was fortifying
Portsmouth, “to seize upon such persons as held commissions under the
crown, and were acting as open and avowed enemies to their country, and
hold them as hostages for the security of the town.” Still he was
moderate in his retaliation, and stopped short of private individuals.
“For the present,” said he, “I shall avoid giving the like order with
regard to the _tories_ of Portsmouth; but the day is not far off when
they will meet with this, or a worse fate, if there is not a
considerable reformation in their conduct.”[25]
The season was fast approaching when the bay between the camp and Boston
would be frozen over, and military operations might be conducted upon
the ice. General Howe, if reinforced, would then very probably “endeavor
to relieve himself from the disgraceful confinement in which the
ministerial troops had been all summer.” Washington felt the necessity,
therefore, of guarding the camps wherever they were most assailable; and
of throwing up batteries for the purpose. He had been embarrassed
throughout the siege by the want of artillery and ordnance stores; but
never more so than at the present moment. In this juncture, Mr. Henry
Knox stepped forward, and offered to proceed to the frontier forts on
Champlain in quest of a supply.
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 had fought on
Bunker’s Hill, since when he had aided in planning the defences of the
camp before Boston. The aptness and talent here displayed by him as an
artillerist, had recently induced Washington to recommend him to
Congress for the command of the regiment of artillery in place of the
veteran Gridley, who was considered by all the officers of the camp, too
old for active employment. Congress had not yet acted on that
recommendation; in the mean time Washington availed himself of the
offered services of Knox in the present instance. He was, accordingly,
instructed to examine into the state of the artillery in camp, and take
an account of the cannon, mortars, shells, lead and ammunition that were
wanting. He was then to hasten to New York, procure and forward all that
could be had there; and thence proceed to the head-quarters of General
Schuyler, who was requested by letter to aid him in obtaining what
further supplies of the kind were wanting from the forts at Ticonderoga,
Crown Point, St. Johns, and even Quebec, should it be in the hands of
the Americans. Knox set off on his errand with promptness and alacrity,
and shortly afterwards the commission of colonel of the regiment of
artillery which Washington had advised, was forwarded to him by
Congress.
The re-enlistment of troops actually in service was now attempted, and
proved a fruitful source of perplexity. In a letter to the President of
Congress, Washington observes that half of the officers of the rank of
captain were inclined to retire; and it was probable their example would
influence their men. Of those who were disposed to remain, the officers
of one colony were unwilling to mix in the same regiment with those of
another. Many sent in their names, to serve in expectation of promotion;
others stood aloof, to see what advantages they could make for
themselves; while those who had declined sent in their names again to
serve.[26] The difficulties were greater, if possible, with the soldiers
than with the officers. They would not enlist unless they knew their
colonel, lieutenant-colonel and captain; Connecticut men being unwilling
to serve under officers from Massachusetts, and Massachusetts men under
officers from Rhode Island; so that it was necessary to appoint the
officers first.
Twenty days later he again writes to the President of Congress: “I am
sorry to be necessitated to mention to you the egregious want of public
spirit which prevails here. Instead of pressing to be engaged in the
cause of their country, which I vainly flattered myself would be the
case, I find we are likely to be deserted in a most critical time. * * *
Our situation is truly alarming, and of this General Howe is well
apprised. No doubt when he is reinforced he will avail himself of the
information.”
In a letter to Reed he disburdened his heart more completely. “Such
dearth of public spirit, and such want of virtue; such stock-jobbing,
and fertility in all the low arts to obtain advantage of one kind or
another in this great change of military arrangement, I never saw
before, and I pray God’s mercy that I may never be witness to again.
What will be the end of these manœuvres is beyond my scan. I tremble at
the prospect. We have been till this time (Nov. 28) enlisting about
three thousand five hundred men. To engage these, I have been obliged to
allow furloughs as far as fifty men to a regiment, and the officers I am
persuaded indulge many more. The Connecticut troops will not be
prevailed upon to stay longer than their term, saving those who have
enlisted for the next campaign, and are mostly on furlough; and such a
mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be surprised at
any disaster that may happen. * * * Could I have foreseen what I have
experienced and am likely to experience, no consideration upon earth
should have induced me to accept this command.”
No one drew closer to Washington in this time of his troubles and
perplexities than General Greene. He had a real veneration for his
character, and thought himself “happy in an opportunity to serve under
so good a general.” He grieved at Washington’s annoyances, but
attributed them in part to his being somewhat of a stranger in New
England. “He has not had time,” writes he, “to make himself acquainted
with the genius of this people; they are naturally as brave and spirited
as the peasantry of any other country, but you cannot expect veterans of
a raw militia from only a few months’ service. The common people are
exceedingly avaricious; the genius of the people is commercial, from
their long intercourse with trade. The sentiment of honor, the true
characteristic of a soldier, has not yet got the better of interest. His
Excellency has been taught to believe the people here a superior race of
mortals; and finding them of the same temper and dispositions, passions
and prejudices, virtues and vices of the common people of other
governments, they sank in his esteem.”[27]