REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).
Gage attempts to seize American Arms--Skirmish at
Lexington--Blockade of Boston--The Second Congress at
Philadelphia--Washington chosen Commander-in-Chief--Fall of
Ticonderoga and Crown Point--Washington at Boston--Battle
of Bunker's Hill--The Olive Branch Petition--Condition
of the American Army--Expedition against Canada--Capture
of Montreal--Arnold's Expedition--His Junction with
Montgomery--Failure of the Attack on Quebec--The Employment
of German Mercenaries--Washington seizes Dorchester
Heights--Evacuation of Boston--Howe retires to Halifax--The War
in Canada--Thomas's Retreat--Sullivan evacuates Canada--The War
in the South--Attack on Charleston--Paine's Pamphlet, "Common
Sense"--New York and Virginia decide for Independence--Debate in
Congress--Report of the Committee--Arbitrary Proceedings--The
Declaration--Overtures to France--Arrival of Lord Howe--Position
of Washington--Howe's Overtures--Battle of Brooklyn--Washington's
Retreat--His Desperate Position--Howe receives a Deputation
from Congress--Washington retires Step by Step--Cornwallis's
Pursuit--Close of the Campaign--The Articles of Confederation
published by Congress--Fresh Overtures to France--Parliament
votes large Sums of Money--John the Painter--Chatham
demands a Cessation of Hostilities--Washington's Change
of Tactics--Surprise of Trenton--Washington outmanœuvres
Cornwallis--He recovers New Jersey--Difficulties of Congress--Howe
advances against Washington--Alteration of Howe's Plans--Battle
of the Brandywine--Howe crosses the Schuylkill--Cornwallis
enters Philadelphia--Battle of Germantown--Washington at
Valley Forge--Burgoyne's Plan of Campaign--His Advance--St.
Clair's Defeat--Burgoyne on the Hudson--The Beginning of his
Misfortunes--Battle of Bemus's Heights--Burgoyne's Message to
Clinton--He is Surrounded--He attempts to cut his Way through--The
Surrender of Saratoga--Clinton's Failure to relieve Burgoyne--Close
of the Campaign.
During the winter the Americans had been preparing for war, fabricating
and repairing arms, drilling militia, and calling on one another, by
proclamations, to be ready. On the 26th of February, 1775, Gage sent
a detachment to take possession of some brass cannon and field-pieces
collected at Salem. A hundred and fifty regulars landed at Salem for
this purpose, but, finding no cannon there, they proceeded to the
adjoining town of Danvers. They were stopped at a bridge by a party of
militia, under Colonel Pickering, who claimed the bridge as private
property, and refused a passage. There was likely to be bloodshed on
the bridge, but it was Sunday, and some ministers of Salem pleaded the
sacredness of the day, and prevailed on Colonel Pickering to let the
soldiers pass. They found nothing, and soon returned.
Again, on the night between the 18th and 19th of April, General Gage
sent a detachment of about eight hundred grenadiers and light infantry
to destroy a depôt of stores and arms at Concord. They were commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, of the Marines. The
alarm was given, fires were kindled, bells rung, guns discharged,
and the country was up. The British troops reached Lexington at five
o'clock in the morning, and pushed on their light infantry to secure
the bridges. They encountered a body of militia under cover of a gun
near the road, whom they ordered to retire, and they withdrew in haste.
Here the Americans assert that when the minute-men did not retire
on the first order, the English fired on them and killed eight of
them. The English, on the other hand, declare that the Americans, in
retiring, no sooner reached the shelter of a wall than they fired on
the British; that the firing came also from some adjoining houses,
and shot one man, and wounded Major Pitcairn's horse in two places;
that then the English were ordered to fire, that they killed several,
wounded others, and put the body, about a hundred in number, to flight.
By this time the alarm had spread, the minute-men came running from all
places, and as the English, having executed their commission, began to
retire, the Americans shouted, "The lobsters run!" The minute-men now
rushed over the bridge after them, and firing from behind trees and
walls, killed a considerable number of them. The Americans--excellent
shots with their rifles--could only be seen by the smoke of these
rifles, and the English, tired with their long night march, instead
of halting to hunt them out, kept on their way towards Lexington.
The whole march was of this description: the English, unable to get
a good shot at their enemies, the minute-men pressing on their rear,
still sheltered by trees and walls. The result would have been more
disastrous had not General Gage sent on to Lexington another detachment
of foot and marines, consisting of about sixteen companies, under
command of Lord Percy. In this first bloodshed between the colonists
and the mother country, the British found they had lost sixty killed,
forty-nine missing, and one hundred and thirty-six wounded. The
Americans admitted that they had a loss of sixty, of whom two-thirds
were killed.
The news spread on every side; the retreat of the English from Concord,
which always was intended, as soon as the object was accomplished, was
represented as an ignominious flight before the conquering Americans,
and the effect was marvellous. Men flocked from all quarters. There
were some twenty thousand men assembled round Boston, forming a
line nearly twenty miles in extent, with their left leaning on the
river Mystic, and their right on the town of Boston. Putnam and Ward
became the souls of the American army. Gage, who was awaiting fresh
reinforcements, lay quiet, contented to hold his post, when he might,
according to military authorities, have attacked the American lines,
at first loose, and without any proper order and consistency, with
great advantage. The inhabitants of Boston, not relishing the idea
of a blockade, applied to Gage for permission to retire. He replied
that they were at liberty to do so with their families and effects,
on surrendering their arms. The Bostonians at once interpreted this
to mean the whole of their merchandise, and Gage, in consequence,
countermanded his permission.
On the 10th of May the second Congress met at Philadelphia. The
delegates had everywhere been easily elected, and Franklin, having
arrived on the 5th of May in Philadelphia, was in time to be added to
the number already chosen there. The battle of Lexington had heated the
blood of the delegates, and they assembled in no very pacific mood.
They assumed the name of the Congress of the United Colonies, and
rejected with contempt the poor conciliatory Bill of Lord North, as it
had already been deservedly treated by the provincial Assemblies. They
immediately issued a proclamation prohibiting the export of provisions
to any British colony or fishery still continuing in obedience to
Great Britain; or any supply to the British army in Massachusetts
Bay, or the negotiation of any bill drawn by a British officer.
Congress ordered the military force of the colonies to be placed on an
efficient footing. They called into existence a body of men, besides
the provincial militia, to be maintained by the United Colonies, and
to be called continental troops, which distinction must be kept in
mind during the whole war. They then made a most admirable choice of a
commander-in-chief in the person of Colonel George Washington.
The spirits of the Americans had been raised by the success of attempts
against the forts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on Lake Champlain.
Early in the spring, some of the leading men of Connecticut, and chief
amongst them Wooster and Silas Deane, projected this expedition,
as securing the passes into Canada. The volunteers who offered for
this enterprise were to march across the frontiers of New York, and
come suddenly on these forts. The wretched condition of carelessness
existing in these important outposts, notwithstanding the alarming
state of the colonies, may be known by the result. Phelps, disguised as
a countryman, entered the fort on pretence of seeking a barber; and,
whilst roaming about in feigned search of him, noted well the ruinous
condition of the fort, and the utter negligence of the guard. The next
day, Ethan Allen went alone to the fortress, ostensibly on a visit to
his friend the commander, leaving his troops concealed in the wood.
He represented that he wanted to conduct some goods across the lake,
and borrowed twenty of his soldiers to help him. These men he made
dead-drunk; and then, rushing suddenly to the fort, where there were
only twenty-two soldiers more, he compelled them in their surprise to
lay down their arms, set a guard over them, and entered his friend's
bed-room and pronounced him a prisoner. He then advanced against the
fort of Crown Point, where he found only a garrison of twelve men, and
immediately afterwards secured Skenesborough, the fortified house of
Major Skene, and took his son and his negroes.
When Washington arrived at Boston, on the 15th of June, he found
the English army augmented to ten thousand by fresh forces, under
Generals Burgoyne, William Howe, the brother of Lord Howe, and Henry
Clinton. The American troops consisted of twenty thousand militia and
volunteers, still in a most confused condition, extended over a line of
twenty miles in length, that only required an attack of five thousand
men, led by a general of courage and ability, to be thoroughly beaten.
They were, moreover, greatly deficient in powder and other necessaries.
But the English generals lay as if there were no urgent need of action.
Had a sudden movement on the Neck been made from Boston, five hundred
men could have broken and dispersed the Americans nearest to that
position before the other ill-trained troops, some of them at great
distances, could have come up; and they might have been easily defeated
in detail by the simultaneous efforts of four spirited generals and
ten thousand efficient soldiers. But lethargy seemed to have seized on
Gage, and to have also infected his coadjutors.
To the north of Boston peninsula, separated from it only by an arm
of the sea, called the Charles River, about as broad as the Thames
at London Bridge, stands Charlestown, built also on a peninsula,
surrounded everywhere by navigable water, except a neck somewhat wider
than Boston Neck. On the peninsula of Charlestown were two eminences:
the lower one, nearest to Boston, being called Breed's Hill, the higher
and more remote, Bunker's Hill. These hills, which commanded Boston,
would have immediately attracted the eye of any general of the least
talent. But Gage had utterly neglected this most vital point; and, on
awaking on the morning of the 17th of June, he suddenly saw the height
of Breed's Hill covered with soldiers and military works, as by magic,
and the Americans shouting and beginning to fire upon the town and
shipping in the harbour.
The Americans had marched on the evening of the 16th with orders to
make themselves masters of Bunker's Hill. By some mistake, they had
planted themselves on Breed's Hill, and instantly began to throw up
a formidable redoubt and entrenchments, and to place their guns in
battery. Gage then ordered a detachment of troops, under the command
of General Howe and Brigadier Pigott, to drive the Americans, at all
costs, from that position. It was noon before Howe crossed the river
and landed on the Charlestown peninsula; but then Howe perceived the
strength of the Americans to be greater than had been supposed, and,
halting, he sent for reinforcements. They advanced up the hill, formed
in two lines, the right headed by General Howe, the left by Brigadier
Pigott. The left was immediately severely galled by the riflemen posted
in the houses and on the roofs of Charlestown, and Howe instantly
halted and ordered the left wing to advance and set fire to the town.
This was soon executed, and the wooden buildings of Charlestown were
speedily in a blaze, and the whole place burnt to the ground. The
Americans reserved their fire till the English were nearly at the
entrenchments, when they opened with such a deadly discharge of cannon
and musketry as astonished and perplexed the British. Most of the men
and the staff standing around General Howe were killed, and he stood
for a moment almost alone. Some of the newer troops never stopped till
they reached the bottom of the hill. The officers, however, speedily
rallied the broken lines, and led them a second time against the
murderous batteries. A second time they gave way. But General Clinton,
seeing the unequal strife, without waiting for orders, and attended
by a number of resolute officers, hastened across the water in boats,
and, rallying the fugitives, led them a third time up the hill. By this
time the fire of the Americans began to slacken, for their powder was
failing, and the English, wearied as they were, rushed up the hill, and
carried the entrenchments at the point of the bayonet. Had Gage had a
proper reserve ready to rush upon the flying rout on the Neck, few of
them would have remained to join their fellows. The battle was called
the Battle of Bunker's Hill, though really fought on the lower, or
Breed's Hill.
Notwithstanding the real outbreak of the war, Congress yet professed
to entertain hopes of ultimate reconciliation. When the reinforcements
had arrived from England, and it was supposed that part of them were
destined for New York, it issued orders that, so long as the forces
remained quiet in their barracks, they should not be molested; but if
they attempted to raise fortifications, or to cut off the town from the
country, they should be stoutly opposed. When the news of the surprise
of the forts on the Lake Champlain arrived, Congress endeavoured to
excuse so direct a breach of the peace by feigning a belief in a
design of an invasion of the colonies from Canada, of which there was
notoriously no intention, and they gave orders that an exact inventory
of the cannon and military stores there captured should be made, in
order to their restoration, "when the former harmony between Great
Britain and her colonies, so ardently wished for by the latter, should
render it consistent with the overruling law of self-preservation."
After the battle of Bunker's Hill, Congress still maintained this tone.
On the 8th of July they signed a petition to the king, drawn up by John
Dickinson, in the mildest terms, who, when to his own surprise the
petition was adopted by the Congress, rose, and said that there was
not a word in the whole petition that he did not approve of, except
the word "Congress." This, however, was far from the feeling of many
members; and Benjamin Harrison immediately rose and declared that there
was but one word in the whole petition that he did approve of, and that
was the word "Congress." The petition to the king expressed an earnest
desire for a speedy and permanent reconciliation, declaring that,
notwithstanding their sufferings, they retained in their hearts "too
tender a regard for the kingdom from which they derived their origin to
request such a reconciliation as might be inconsistent with her dignity
or welfare." At the same time, they resolved that this appeal, which
they called "The Olive Branch," should, if unsuccessful, be their last.
They could hardly have expected it to be successful.
When Washington arrived at the camp at Cambridge, instead of twenty
thousand men, which he expected on his side, he found only sixteen
thousand, and of these only fourteen thousand fit for duty. He
describes them as "a mixed multitude of people under very little order
or government." They had no uniforms; and Washington recommended
Congress to send them out ten thousand hunting-shirts, as giving them
something of a uniform appearance. There was not a single dollar in the
military chest; the supply of provisions was extremely deficient and
uncertain. There was a great want of engineering tools; and he soon
discovered that the battle of Bunker's Hill, which, at a distance, was
boasted of as a victory, had been a decided defeat. He immediately
set about to reduce this discouraging chaos into new order. Assisted
by General Lee, he commenced by having prayers read at the head of
the respective regiments every morning. He broke up the freedom which
confounded officers and men; he compelled subordination by the free
use of the lash, where commands would not serve. He kept them daily
at active drill. He laboured incessantly to complete the lines, so
that very soon it would be impossible for the enemy to get between
the ranks. But the great and--if the English generals had been only
properly awake--the fatal want was that of powder. Washington found
that they had but nine rounds of powder to a musket, and next to none
for the artillery. "The world," said Franklin, "wondered that we so
seldom fired a cannon; why, we could not afford it!" And all this was
disclosed to General Gage by a deserter, and he still lay in a profound
slumber! The Ministry at home, scarcely more awake to the real danger,
were yet astonished at his lethargy; and they recalled him under the
plea of consulting him on the affairs of the colony. He sailed from
Boston in October, leaving the chief command to General Howe.
Meanwhile an expedition against Canada had been projected by Colonel
Arnold and Ethan Allen at the taking of the forts of Ticonderoga and
Crown Point. The recommendations of Allen were taken up, and on the
27th of June, although they had on the first of that month declared
their determination not to invade or molest Canada, the Congress
passed other resolutions, instructing Philip Schuyler, one of their
newly-made generals, to proceed to Ticonderoga, and thence, if he
saw it practicable, to go on and secure St. John's and Montreal, and
adopt any other measures against Canada which might have a tendency to
promote the security of the colonies. It was autumn, however, before
the American force destined for this expedition, amounting to two
thousand men, assembled on Lake Champlain; and Schuyler being taken
ill, the command then devolved on General Montgomery. General Carleton,
the Governor of Canada, to whom the Americans, when it suited their
purpose, were always attributing designs of invasion of the colonies,
had not, in fact, forces sufficient to defend himself properly.
General Montgomery reached the St. Lawrence, and detached six hundred
men to invest Fort Chambly, situated on the river Sorel, about five
miles above Fort St. John. The menaced condition of Quebec compelled
General Carleton to abandon Montreal to its fate, and to hasten to the
capital, and Montgomery immediately took possession of it. So far all
succeeded with the American expedition. Carleton, to reach Quebec,
had to pass through the American forces on the St. Lawrence. He went
in disguise, and dropped down the river by night, with muffled oars,
threading the American craft on the river, and so reached Quebec alone,
but in safety. Montgomery was determined to fall down the St. Lawrence
too, to support Arnold; but his position was anything but enviable.
He had been obliged to garrison Forts Chambly and St. John's, and he
was now compelled to leave another garrison at Montreal. This done, he
had only four hundred and fifty men left, and they were in the most
discontented and insubordinate condition. As he proceeded, therefore,
he found them fast melting away by desertion; and, had he not soon
fallen in with Arnold and his band at Point aux Trembles, he would have
found himself alone.
Arnold had meanwhile arranged everything with Washington, at Cambridge,
for his expedition. He marched away from Cambridge with twelve hundred
men, and on reaching the Kennebec River, one hundred and thirty miles
north of Boston, embarked upon it, carrying with him one thousand
pounds in money, and a whole cargo of manifestoes for distribution
among the Canadians. Thence he had to traverse a terrible wilderness
of woods, swamps, streams, and rugged heights, where the men had to
carry their boats and provisions on their shoulders, and where, for
two-and-thirty days, they saw no house, wigwam, or sign of human life.
So extreme were their distresses, that for the last several days they
had to live on their own dogs. It was the 3rd of November before they
reached the first Canadian settlement on the river Chaudière, which
flows into the St. Lawrence opposite to Quebec. They emerged on the
river St. Lawrence, at Point Levi, immediately over against Quebec.
Could Arnold have crossed immediately, such was the suddenness of the
surprise, he probably would have taken the city. But a rough gale was
blowing at the time, and for five days he was detained on the right
bank of the river by that circumstance and the want of boats. Arnold,
nevertheless, managed to cross the river in the night, about a mile
and a half above the place where Wolfe had crossed. Finding the cliffs
there too high to scale, he followed the shore down to Wolfe's Cove,
and ascended the heights just where Wolfe had done so. Like Wolfe,
Arnold formed his band on the Heights of Abraham, and, trusting to the
belief that the Canadians were in favour of the Americans, proposed
to make a dash up to the gates of the city before day broke; but his
followers protested against this design. When day dawned, Arnold saw
so many men on the walls and batteries that he knew the assault was
hopeless, and retired to Point aux Trembles, where he was joined by
Montgomery, who took the chief command.
[Illustration: MONTGOMERY'S ASSAULT ON THE LOWER TOWN, QUEBEC. (_See
p._ 222.)]
Arnold had not been able to bring any artillery with him; Montgomery
had a little. They had about twelve hundred men altogether; and with
this force they now marched upon Quebec. On the 20th of December they
commenced firing on the town from a six-gun battery; but their cannon
were too light to make much impression--they had no guns heavier than
twelve-pounders, and these were soon dismounted by Colonel Maclean and
his sailors. The Americans withdrew their guns to a safer distance; and
their troops were desirous to abandon the enterprise as impracticable,
but the commanders engaged them to continue by holding out a prospect
of their plundering the lower town, where all the wealth lay. On the
last day of the year, soon after four in the morning, the attack was
commenced. Two divisions, under Majors Livingstone and Brown, were left
to make feigned attacks on the upper town, whilst the rest, in two
lines, under Montgomery and Arnold, set out amid a blinding snow-storm
to make two real attacks on the lower town. Montgomery, descending to
the bed of the St. Lawrence, wound along the beach to Cape Diamond,
where he was stopped by a blockhouse and picket. Haying passed these,
he again, at a place called Pot Ash, encountered a battery, which was
soon abandoned. Montgomery then led his troops across huge piles of
ice driven on shore; and no sooner had they surmounted these than they
were received by a severe fire from a battery manned by sailors and
Highlanders. Montgomery fell dead along with several other officers
and many men; and the rest, seeing the fate of their commander, turned
and fled back up the cliffs. Arnold, at the same time, was pushing his
way through the suburbs of the lower town, followed by Captain Lamb
with his artillerymen, and one field piece mounted on a sledge. After
these went Morgan with his riflemen; and as they advanced in the dark,
and muffled in the falling snow, they came upon a two-gun battery. As
Arnold was cheering on his men to attack this outpost, the bone of his
leg was shattered by a musket-ball. He was carried from the field; but
Morgan rushed on and made himself master of the battery and the guard.
Just as day dawned, he found himself in front of a second battery,
and, whilst attacking that, was assailed in the rear and compelled to
surrender, with a loss of four hundred men, three hundred of whom were
taken prisoners. Arnold retreated to a distance of three or four miles
from Quebec, and covered his camp behind the Heights of Abraham with
ramparts of frozen snow, and remained there for the winter, cutting
off the supplies of the garrison, and doing his best to alienate the
Canadians from the English.
The English Opposition now began to comment with great vigour on
the conduct of affairs. The spirit of that body rose higher, as the
imminence of war became greater. Charles James Fox made a motion for
a committee to inquire into the causes of the inefficiency of his
Majesty's arms in North America, and of the defection of the people
in the province of Quebec. He took a searching review of the whole
proceedings since 1774, and contended that there was a great lack
of ability and management somewhere, either in the Government which
planned, or the generals who had to execute the Ministerial orders. His
motion, however, was useless, for it was rejected by two hundred and
forty to one hundred and four votes.
But on the 29th of February, 1776, the treaties lately entered into
by the British Government with a number of German princes to furnish
troops to fight in America, were laid on the table of the Commons;
and intense indignation was raised against this most odious and
impolitic measure. There had been negotiations with Russia for the
purpose of procuring her savages to put down our kinsmen in America;
but this barbarous attempt had failed. It was more successful with
the petty princes of Germany. The Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of
Hesse-Cassel, and other little despots, now greedily seized on the
necessity of England, to drive the most extravagant terms with her.
Under the name of levy-money, they were to receive seven pounds ten
shillings for every man; and besides maintaining them, we were to pay
to the Duke of Brunswick, who supplied four thousand and eighty-four
men, a subsidy of fifteen thousand five hundred and nineteen pounds;
the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who furnished twelve thousand men, did
not get such good terms as Brunswick--he had ten thousand pounds; the
hereditary Prince of Hesse received six thousand pounds a-year, for
only six hundred and eighty-eight men. Besides this, the men were to
begin to receive pay before they began to march. Brunswick was also
to get double his sum, or thirty-one thousand and thirty-eight pounds
a-year, for two years after they had ceased to serve; and the Landgrave
of Hesse was to receive twelve months' notice of the discontinuance of
the payment after his troops had returned to his dominions. The payment
for 1776 was to be four hundred and fifty thousand crowns, or nearly
one hundred thousand pounds. The Prince of Waldeck soon after engaged
to furnish six hundred and seventy men on equally good terms. Beyond
all these conditions, England was bound to defend the dominions of
those princes in the absence of their troops. The independent members
of both Houses nobly discharged their duty in condemnation of this
engagement of German mercenaries, but without effect, and the king
prorogued Parliament, under the pleasing delusion that his foreign
troops would soon bring his rebellious subjects to reason; and the
Ministers apparently as firmly shared in this fallacious idea.
In America, during this time, various encounters had taken place
between the English and American forces. Washington, in spite of the
severity of the winter weather, was pressing the blockade of Boston.
But the difficulties with which he had to contend were so enormous,
that, had General Howe had any real notion of them, as he ought to
have had, he might have beaten off the American troops over and over
again. His troops, it is true, only amounted to about seven thousand,
and Washington's to about fifteen thousand; but besides the deficiency
of powder in Washington's camp, the terms on which his troops served
were such as kept him in constant uncertainty. This was the condition
of things when, early in March, Washington commenced acting on the
offensive. He threw up entrenchments on Dorchester Heights, overlooking
and commanding both Boston town and harbour. Taking advantage of a dark
night, on the 4th of March he sent a strong detachment to the Heights,
who, before mining, threw up a redoubt, which made it necessary for
General Howe to dislodge them, or evacuate the place. It seems amazing,
after the affair of Bunker's Hill, that Howe had not seen the necessity
of occupying the post himself. He now, however, prepared to attack the
redoubt, and the soldiers were eager for the enterprise. The vanguard
fell down to Castle William, at which place the ascent was to be made;
and on the morrow, the 5th of March, the anniversary of what was termed
the Massacre of Boston, the fight was to take place. A violent storm,
however, arose, rendering the crossing of the water impracticable.
By the time that it ceased, the Americans had so strengthened their
works, that it was deemed a useless waste of life to attempt to carry
them. The only alternative was the evacuation of Boston. Howe had
long been persuaded that it would be much better to make the British
headquarters at New York, where there were few American troops, and
where the king's friends were numerous; and this certainly was true,
unless he had mustered resolution and sought to disperse his enemies
when they were in a state of disorder and deficiency of ammunition that
insured his certain success. As it was, he was now most ignominiously
cooped up, and in hourly jeopardy of being shelled out of the place.
He had obtained the permission of his Government for this movement,
and he now set about it in earnest. When, however, he came to embark,
another example was given of that shameful neglect which pervaded the
whole of the British civil department of the military service. When
the transports were examined, they were found totally destitute of
provisions and forage. No direct compact was made between Howe and
Washington regarding the evacuation; but an indirect communication
and understanding on the subject was entered into--through the "Select
Men" of Boston--that no injury should be done to the town during it,
provided the troops were unmolested in embarking. Before departing,
however, the English totally dismantled and partly demolished Castle
William. On the 17th, the last of the British troops were on board; and
that afternoon Boston was entered in triumph by General Putnam, at the
head of the vanguard.
Howe, who, with seven thousand soldiers and more than one thousand
sailors, did not feel himself safe at New York till the new
reinforcements should arrive, sailed away to Halifax--a circumstance
which gave the appearance of a retreat to his change of locality,
and had thus a bad effect in more ways than one. Washington, who was
informed of his final destination, immediately marched with the greater
part of his army to New York, and thence went himself to Philadelphia
to concert future measures with the Congress. This body, in
commemoration of the surrender of Boston, ordered a medal to be struck
in honour of it, and that it should bear the effigy of Washington, with
the title of the Asserter of the Liberties of his Country. The medal
was cast in France.
In Canada the management of the war was more successful. To maintain
the war in that quarter, Congress had ordered nine regiments to be
raised. One of these was to be raised in Canada itself, and for this
purpose a commission was given to Moses Hazen, who had formerly been a
captain of rangers, under Wolfe. He was not, however, very successful.
The Canadians were not to any extent disaffected to the British
Government, and by no means well affected to the New Englanders, who
were bitterly bigoted against Catholics, which the Canadians chiefly
were. When Hazen and Arnold saw that the Canadians would neither
enlist nor bring provisions to their camps, without cash payment, they
commenced plundering for all that they wanted, and thus confirmed that
people in their hatred of the Americans. They, moreover, insulted the
Canadians by ridiculing their rites of worship.
Miserably as Arnold had passed the winter in his camp, as spring
approached he again planted his batteries above Quebec, but produced
so little effect that Carleton lay still in expectation of his
reinforcements on the breaking up of the river. On the 1st of April
General Wooster arrived, and took the command, much to the disgust of
Arnold, who was sent to command a detachment at Montreal. On the 1st
of May, General Thomas, who was to be supreme in command, arrived, and
found the forces amounting to about two thousand men. The river was now
opening; and on the 6th of May three English ships had made their way
up to Quebec, full of troops. Two companies of the 29th Regiment and
one hundred marines were immediately landed amid the rejoicings of the
inhabitants; and General Carleton gave instant orders to issue forth
and attack the American lines. But General Thomas, conscious that, so
far from being able to take Quebec, he should be himself taken, unless
he decamped with all haste, was already on the move. General Carleton
pursued him vigorously, and the retreat of the Americans became a
regular rout. They threw themselves into boats at the Three Rivers,
leaving behind them all their artillery and stores, as well as the
sick, who were numerous, the smallpox having broken out amongst them.
Thomas managed to reach Fort Chambly and St. John's on the Sorel; but
there he died, having taken the smallpox.
Carleton being, by the beginning of June, reinforced by still more
troops from England, determined to follow the Americans. They had
reached the Three Rivers, about midway between Quebec and Montreal,
and about thirty miles from the American headquarters on the Sorel,
when General Sullivan, who had succeeded Thomas, sent two thousand
men under General Thompson. They got across the river and hoped to
surprise the English; but it was daylight before they drew near the
Three Rivers. Landing with confusion, they sought a place where they
could form and defend themselves; but they found themselves entangled
in a labyrinth of streams and morasses. Then they were attacked,
front and rear, by Generals Fraser and Nesbit. In the suddenness of
the surprise, no precaution had been taken to secure or destroy their
boats; the remainder of the Americans, therefore, getting into them,
pulled away and crossed. Sullivan, who had hastened to support them,
now, accompanied by St. Clair, made the best of his way back to Fort
Chambly. Carleton pursued, but coming to the Sorel, instead of sailing
up it, by which he might have reached Chambly nearly a day earlier
than Sullivan, with a strange neglect he continued lying at the mouth
of the river for a couple of days. Had he not done this, Arnold would
have been intercepted at Montreal, and Ticonderoga, now defenceless,
would have fallen into his hands. By this false step much damage to
the king's cause ensued. Carleton, however, determined to seek out
Arnold himself, and sent on General Burgoyne in pursuit of Sullivan.
Burgoyne made quick pursuit; but the Americans were too nimble for both
himself and Carleton. Arnold hastily evacuated Montreal, and, crossing
the river, joined Sullivan at St. John's, on the Sorel. There Sullivan
proposed to make a stand, but his troops would not support him, for the
whole army was in a state of insubordination. Burgoyne marched rapidly
after them; but, on reaching the head of the Sorel, he found they had
escaped him by embarking on the lake. Sullivan and Arnold had encamped
on the Isle aux Noix, a swampy place, where their men perished, many of
them, of fever, and Burgoyne was obliged to satisfy himself with the
thought that they were driven out of Canada.
In the south, affairs had been as ill conducted by the English
commanders as in the north they had been carried on well. Governor
Martin had made an effort to recover North Carolina. He had collected
a number of Highlanders, recently emigrated to America, and a number
of back-woodsmen, called Regulators, and sent them, under the
command of Colonels Macdonald and Macleod, to compel the inhabitants
to submission. They were to be supported by regular troops to be
landed at Wilmington, and General Clinton was daily expected with
the reinforcements from England. But Clinton did not appear, and the
impatient Highlanders and Regulators, in marching from Cross Creek to
Wilmington, were decoyed into a swamp, and there attacked and beaten.
Macleod and most of the Highlanders were taken prisoners, and the
Regulators, such as escaped, made again for the woods.
On the 3rd of May Lord Cornwallis arrived on the coast with a squadron
of transports, convoyed by Sir Peter Parker, with several ships of war.
General Clinton arrived soon after, and took the command of the troops;
and, in concert with Parker, he determined to attack Charleston,
the capital of South Carolina. On the 4th of June they appeared off
Charleston, and landed on Long Island. They found the mouth of the
harbour strongly defended by fortifications on Sullivan's Island, and
by others on Hadrell's Point on its north. On the point lay encamped
the American General Lee. Clinton threw up two batteries on Long Island
to command those on Sullivan island, whilst Parker, from the ships,
was to assist in covering the landing of the troops on that Island.
Clinton was informed that he could easily cross from one island to
the other by a ford; and consequently, on the morning of the 28th of
June, Sir Peter Parker drew up his men-of-war--three vessels of fifty
guns each, and six frigates of twenty-eight guns each, besides another
of twenty-four guns and the _Thunder_ bomb. But he had been deceived;
what was called a ford, he found impassable. He was compelled to
reimbark his troops, and meanwhile Parker's vessels, also unacquainted
with their ground, ran upon a shoal, where one of them struck. In
these unfortunate circumstances, the Americans, from the island and
from Hadrell's Point, poured a tremendous fire into the ships, doing
dreadful execution. Clinton sailed away, after this ignominious attempt
to join General Howe, but some of the vessels were compelled to remain
some time at Long Island to refit.
[Illustration: SIGNATURES TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]
But whilst these conflicts were taking place, the Revolution was
marching on at full speed, and had reached its height--the Declaration
of Independence. The Continental Congress, on the 15th of May, passed
a resolution that it was necessary for such of the States as had not
framed for themselves such constitutions as were required by the
altered circumstances of the country, to forthwith frame such as should
be conducive to their safety and welfare. This was published in all the
newspapers, accompanied by a statement that, as the King of England,
in concurrence with his Parliament, had excluded the people of those
colonies from his protection, it became indispensable to abolish the
constitution established by that power, and frame one for themselves.
Here was a plain declaration; there was no longer any mistake.
There was no man in the colonies, nevertheless, who contributed so
much to bring the open Declaration of Independence to a crisis as
Thomas Paine, the celebrated author of "The Rights of Man" and of
"The Age of Reason." Paine was originally a Quaker and staymaker at
Thetford, in Norfolk. He renounced his Quakerism and his staymaking,
became an exciseman, and then an usher in a school, reverting again
to the gauging of ale firkins. In 1772 he wrote a pamphlet on the
mischiefs arising from the inadequate payment of the excise officers,
laying them open to bribes, etc. This pamphlet having been sent to
Franklin, induced him to recommend the poor author to emigrate to
America. Paine adopted the advice, and settled at Philadelphia in
1774. He there devoted himself to political literature, wrote for the
papers and journals, finally edited the _Philadelphia Magazine_, and,
imbibing all the ardour of revolution, wrote, in January of the year
1776, a pamphlet called "Common Sense." This pamphlet was the spark
that was needed to fire the train of independence. It at once seized
on the imagination of the public, cast other writers into the shade,
and flew, in thousands and tens of thousands of copies, throughout the
colonies. It ridiculed the idea of a small island, three thousand miles
off, ruling that immense continent, and threatening, by its insolent
assumption, the expanding energies of three millions of men, more
vigorous, virtuous, and free, than those who sought to enslave them.
Amongst the provinces employing themselves to carry out the
recommendation of the Congress, by framing new constitutions, that of
New York was emboldened by the presence of Washington and his army to
disregard the Royalists, and to frame a perfectly independent system.
Gouverneur Morris took the lead in the ultra party, and declared that
the time was now come for asserting entire independence. On the 27th
of May a resolution to that effect was passed. The delegates of the
Assembly were instructed to support these principles in Congress.
The Assembly of Virginia, meeting in convention at Williamsburg on
the 6th of May, drew up a Declaration of Rights, a document which
afterwards became the model for the celebrated "Rights of Man" with
the French Revolutionists. In this Declaration it was asserted that
the rights of the people cannot exist with hereditary monarchy; and
in the fourth article it was affirmed, that the idea of "a man being
born a magistrate, a legislator, or a judge, is unnatural and absurd."
Accordingly, Richard Henry Lee, as one of their delegates, on the
7th of June, moved in General Congress, that "these United Colonies
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is,
and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should immediately
be taken for procuring the assistance of foreign Powers, and a
confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together."
This all-important question was adjourned to the next day, the 8th of
June, when it was debated in a committee of the whole House. As the
discussion, however, took place with closed doors, as all great debates
of Congress did, to hide the real state of opinion, and to give to the
ultimate decision an air of unanimity, the reports of it are meagre and
unsatisfactory. We know, however, that Lee, the original mover, was
supported by his colleague Wythe, and most energetically by John Adams;
that it was as vigorously opposed by John Dickinson and his colleagues,
Wilson, of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingstone, of New York, and John
Rutledge, of South Carolina. Moreover, a considerable number of members
from different States opposed the motion, on the ground, not of its
being improper in itself, but, as yet, premature. Six colonies declared
for it, including Virginia. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland
were at present against it. New York, Delaware, and South Carolina,
were not decided to move yet; and it was proposed to give them time to
make up their minds. Dr. Zubly, of Georgia, protested against it, and
quitted the Congress. To give time for greater unanimity, the subject
was postponed till the 1st of July; but, meanwhile, a committee was
appointed to draw up a Declaration of Independence. The members of this
committee were only five, namely, Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; John
Adams, of Massachusetts; Roger Sherman, of Connecticut; Richard R.
Livingstone, of New York; and Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania.
[Illustration: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, JULY 4th, 1776.
FROM THE PAINTING BY J. TRUMBULL.]
On the 1st of July the report of the committee was read, together
with the form of declaration as drawn up by Jefferson, but afterwards
remodelled by Franklin and the committee. Nine states now voted for
independence. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against it.
Delaware and South Carolina requested an adjournment to the next day,
in order to make up their minds, when they voted for it, a new delegate
having arrived from Delaware with firmer instructions. New York held
out against independence, General Howe having now arrived at Sandy
Hook, and the Provincial Congress having retired from New York to White
Plains. Jay and Gouverneur Morris, from that State, were, however,
vehement for independence, asserting that the Congress of New York
ought to be dissolved, and delegates sent up to a new and more popular
Congress.
The revolutionary party in New York determined to carry them, and
the revolutionary party in Pennsylvania the same, right or wrong.
In Pennsylvania delegates insisted that those of their colleagues
who were averse from the Declaration should absent themselves, and
those favourable to it should attend and vote. From Delaware, one
single delegate, Cæsar Rodney, voted and decided the question in that
province. The New York Assembly only nominally reconstructed its
Provincial Congress. Instead of calling the electors together, as
recommended by the report of the 28th of May, some of the freeholders
and voters declared such of the old members as were willing to vote
for the Declaration re-elected; and this irregular and clearly
unconstitutional body attended and voted for the Declaration. Finally
the moderate party, headed by John Dickinson, withdrew, and the
Declaration was carried by one vote.
By these violent and arbitrary means was passed on the 4th July,
1776, the famous Declaration of Independence. The original motion for
such a Declaration, on the 8th of June, had been supported by a bare
majority of seven States to six; and now the whole thirteen States
were said to have assented, though it is perfectly well known that
several signatures were not supplied till months afterwards by newly
chosen delegates. The Declaration contained the following assertions
of freedom:--1. That all men are born equally free, possessing certain
natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive their
posterity; 2. That all power is vested in the people, from whom it is
derived [but it was voted in Congress that the blacks made no part of
the people]; 3. That they have an inalienable, indefeasible right to
reform, alter, or abolish their form of government at pleasure; 4. That
the idea of an hereditary first magistrate is unnatural and absurd.
The Americans did not make their Declaration of Independence till they
had communicated with France. The British Government, as Lord North
publicly declared in Parliament, had long heard of American emissaries
at Paris seeking aid there. A secret committee, which had Thomas
Paine for its secretary, was appointed to correspond with the friends
of America in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world.
Encouraged by the assurances of France, the secret committee was soon
converted into a public one, and agents were sent off to almost every
court of Europe to invite aid of one kind or another against the mother
country, not omitting even Spain, Naples, Holland and Russia. Silas
Deane was dispatched to Paris in March of this year, to announce the
growing certainty of a total separation of the colonies from Great
Britain, and to solicit the promised co-operation.
Lord Howe arrived from England, and cast anchor off Sandy Hook, a few
hours after the Declaration of Independence had been read to the army
by Washington. He had been expected by his brother, General Howe, who
had arrived at the same point on the 29th of June, supposing he should
find the admiral there. General Howe found Washington already in New
York, and actively engaged in throwing up entrenchments, both there
and on Long Island, to close the Hudson against the British fleet.
Washington's headquarters were at New York; those of General Sullivan,
at the western extremity of Long Island, opposite to New York; and
Governor's Island, Paulus Hook, New Rochelle, and other points, were
strongly defended to protect the rear of the city. At the time of
Admiral Howe's arrival, the army of Washington did not amount to more
than seventeen thousand men, of whom three thousand were sick, and but
about ten thousand men fit for duty. From his letters to Congress, it
is clear that he entertained very little hope of maintaining his ground
in case of attack, for the fresh forces brought by Howe from England,
being joined by the shattered remains of Sir Peter Parker's squadron,
amounted to twenty thousand men. A few days afterwards, however, he was
joined by two regiments from Philadelphia, and by large bodies of New
York and New England Militia, raising his army to twenty-seven thousand
men, but of these a large number were sick. He now posted strong
reinforcements in Brooklyn. On this General Howe quitted Sandy Hook,
and advanced to Staten Island, where he could watch the operations of
the enemy. The Americans abandoned Staten Island, on his approach,
without firing a gun.
Things being in this position on the arrival of Admiral Lord Howe, he
determined still, notwithstanding the Proclamation of Independence,
to make every effort to procure a last chance of peace. He deeply
regretted the delays which had attended his fleet, and lost no time
in sending on shore an intimation that he brought conciliatory
overtures. His first act was to dispatch a letter to Franklin, who, in
England, had expressed so earnest a desire for accommodation of all
differences, informing him of his commission to seek reconciliation,
and of his powers for the purpose. But the Declaration being now made,
Franklin had no longer a motive to conceal his real sentiments, and he
replied in terms which greatly astonished Howe, filling his letters
only with complaints of "atrocious injuries," and of what America had
endured from "your proud and uninformed nation." Howe next turned to
Washington, to whom he dispatched a flag of truce, bearing a letter to
the Commander-in-Chief. But as Washington could only be regarded as an
insurgent leader, Lord Howe thought he could not officially recognise
a title conferred only by the American Congress, and therefore did
not address him as "General," but simply as "George Washington,
Esquire." Washington refused to treat in any other character than that
of Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. He instantly returned
Howe's letter, and forwarded the other papers to Congress. One of these
was a circular declaration to the late royal Governors, enclosing
a copy of Lord Howe's commission, and stating that all who should
submit would be pardoned; that any town or province which declared its
adhesion to the Crown should at once be exempt from the provisions of
all the late Acts of Parliament, especially as regarded their trade;
and that, moreover, all such persons as were active in promoting the
settlement of their districts should be duly rewarded. The moment
Congress received this document they ordered it to be published in
the newspapers, that "the people might see how the insidious Court of
Great Britain had endeavoured to disarm and amuse them," and that "the
few whom hopes of moderation and justice on the part of the British
Government had still kept in suspense, might now at length be convinced
that the valour alone of their country is to save its liberties." Lord
Howe, undeterred by this spirited proceeding of Congress, on the 20th
of July sent the Adjutant-General once more to Washington, with another
letter, still addressed to "George Washington, Esquire," but adding a
number of etceteras. Washington was not to be caught by so shallow an
artifice. The proposed interview, like the last, therefore, came to
nothing, except that Congress took advantage of these repeated efforts
to insinuate that the British were afraid of fighting.
Lord Howe now prepared to attack New York, where Washington had about
thirty thousand men. But the latter's troops were ill-equipped, and
deficient in discipline. Washington expected that Howe would attack
New York by the way of Long Island, and so he had posted nine thousand
men at Brooklyn, nearly opposite to it, behind entrenchments thrown
up by General Greene. Greene had been attacked by fever; and General
Putnam, who had taken his post, was but indifferently acquainted with
the position of the forces and the nature of the ground they would
have to defend with a rabble of most insubordinate troops. In these
circumstances General Howe, on the morning of the 22nd of August, threw
over from Staten Island into Long Island four thousand men, under the
command of General Clinton. They landed in Gravesend Bay, under cover
of the artillery of three frigates and two bombs. The rest of the army
followed with the artillery. Washington hastened over from New York
to strengthen General Sullivan, who was in command on the island. He
posted no less than fifteen thousand men along a peninsula at that end
of the island facing New York.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE. (_See p._ 235.)]
Two British columns advancing by night--one by the shore road and the
other over the hills--managed to capture the patrols and approach the
outposts of the Americans. Washington having been all day engaged in
strengthening his lines, had returned to New York. Putnam was posted
on the left; and General Stirling was posted on the right on the
seashore, near the part called the Narrows. On the hills Sullivan
occupied one of the passes towards the left. The column on the British
right, consisting of Hessians, under General Von Heister, seized
on the village of Flat Bush, nearly opposite to Sullivan. At the
same time, Sir Henry Clinton and Sir William Erskine reconnoitred
Sullivan's position and the rest of the line of hills, and sent word
to General Howe that it would not be difficult to turn Sullivan's
position where the hills were low, near the village of Bedford. Howe
immediately ordered Lord Percy to support Clinton with his brigades,
in the direction of Bedford, and General Grant to endeavour to turn
the position of General Stirling, whilst the Hessians were ready to
attack Sullivan in front. At a signal, Howe himself marched along
with one of the divisions. In order to draw the enemy's attention
from the movements of General Clinton, Grant made a direct attack
upon Stirling's position, which brought to his aid a great part of
Sullivan's forces, thus deserting their own ground. Grant maintained
his attack till daylight, by which time Clinton had, by a slight
skirmish, crossed the line on his side. The attention from his march
was diverted by Von Heister attacking Putnam's position on the direct
way to Brooklyn, and Lord Howe, from his ships, opening a cannonade on
Governor's Island and Red Hook, in the rear of that town. About eight
o'clock came a fire from Clinton's column, which had now forced its way
into the rear of Putnam and between the Americans and Brooklyn. On this
discovery they endeavoured to make a way to their lines before that
town, but were driven back by Clinton only to find themselves assailed
in the rear by Von Heister. Thus hemmed in, they fled in confusion.
This action in their rear alarmed both Sullivan and Stirling, yet they
maintained their ground against Grant till they learned the total rout
of their comrades opposed to Clinton and Heister, when they laid down
their arms and ran for it. Knowing the ground better than the British,
many of them managed to escape to Brooklyn; but one thousand and
ninety-seven prisoners were taken, and from one thousand two hundred to
one thousand five hundred Americans were killed or wounded. The English
lost only about four hundred killed and wounded.
Washington, who had witnessed the battle, saw, to his infinite
mortification, the British pursuing his flying troops almost up to
their entrenchments. The ardour of the English soldiers was such that
they would speedily have stormed and carried the lines, and not a man
of the American army on Long Island would have escaped being taken
or killed. But General Howe, with that marvellous stupidity which
marked all our generals in this war, ordered them back, saying that
the lines could be taken with less loss of life by regular approach.
The next morning they began throwing up trenches near one of the
American redoubts, from which to cannonade it; but Washington was much
more aware of the untenable nature of his position than Howe, and,
under favour of darkness, and of a thick fog in the morning, he had
been for hours busily transporting his forces over the East River to
New York. All that day, and in the night of the 29th, he continued,
with all possible silence, conveying over his troops, artillery, and
stores, expecting every moment that General Howe would burst through
his lines at Brooklyn, and attack him in the rear, whilst Lord Howe,
with his ships, would advance, and blow all his fragile transports into
the water. Soon, however, Washington saw there was no maintaining his
position there. He found the British fast enclosing him on all sides,
too; and on the 12th of September he began to evacuate the place in
such haste as to leave behind him a great quantity of his artillery and
stores. The English landed on York Island without the loss of a man.
Three thousand men had placed themselves ready to attack the British as
they landed, and before they could form; but the sight of two companies
of grenadiers, already in position, had such an effect on them, that
they fled, leaving their blankets and jackets, which they had thrown
off in certainty of beating the English.
Washington saw almost with despair the condition of the American army;
any other man would have despaired of it altogether. He wrote to
Congress that nothing could make soldiers trustworthy but longer terms
of service; that, in fact, they ought to be engaged for the whole war,
and subjected to a rigid and constant discipline. He complained that
the soldiers were much bolder in plundering than fighting; and one of
his officers observed that the Pennsylvanian and New England troops
would as soon fight each other as the enemy. His Adjutant-General,
Reed, declared that discipline was almost impossible amid such a
levelling spirit as prevailed. These startling facts made Congress
begin in earnest to look out for foreign aid. In the meantime, it voted
that the army should be reorganised with eighty-eight battalions, to
be enlisted as soon as possible, and to serve during the war; each
State to furnish its respective quota, and to name the officers as high
as colonels. But Washington had soon to complain that they only voted,
and did not carry the plan strenuously into action; that there was a
mighty difference between voting battalions and raising men.
The condition of Washington was inconceivably depressing. The time
for the serving of the greater part of the troops was fast expiring;
and numbers of them, despite the circumstances of the country, went
off. Whilst Washington was, therefore, exerting himself to prevail
on them to continue, he was compelled to weaken his persuasions by
enforcing the strictest restraint on both soldiers and officers, who
would plunder the inhabitants around them on the plea that they were
Tories. Sickness was in his camp; and his suffering men, for want of
hospitals, were obliged to lie about in barns, stables, sheds, and even
under the fences and bushes. He wrote again to Congress in a condition
of despair. He called on them to place their army on a permanent
footing; to give the officers such pay as should enable them to live
as gentlemen, and not as mean plunderers. He recommended that not only
a good bounty should be given to every non-commissioned officer and
soldier, but also the reward of a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres
of land, a suit of clothes, and a blanket. Though Congress was loth to
comply with these terms, it soon found that it must do so, or soldiers
would go over to the royal army.