REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_), 1779.
While the war was being carried forward on the eastern borders of the
States, and the people suffered grievously from the natural consequences
of the prolonged struggle, the spirit of enterprise was no less alive in
the remoter provinces, and adventurers were advancing towards that Great
West which has ever been so attractive to the American mind. As had been
so often the case before, the restlessness of the Western Indians led
now to the conquest of their territory. It was reported to congress that
the Indians of the Ohio had been stimulated to hostility by Hamilton,
the British commandant at Detroit, and in consequence it was determined
to send an expedition against that post; but before this was done, one
still more important was accomplished by George Rogers Clarke, a young
backwoodsman of Kentucky. Clarke was a man of great sagacity; and having
come to the conclusion that the best way of putting an end to Indian
hostilities was to destroy the sources whence they derived encouragement
and support, and having correctly ascertained that these border Indians
were not merely the tools of the British, but that great numbers amongst
them were well-inclined towards the Americans, he proposed in December,
1779, to the executive council of Virginia, a plan for the reduction of
the British posts of Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, all founded, as
we may remember, by the French in the days of their American prosperity.
The governor and council approving of Clarke’s plan, afforded him such
facilities as he required for its accomplishment. Early the following
year he enlisted 200 men for three months, and, accompanied by thirteen
emigrant families, descended the Ohio to the Falls, where the emigrants
parted company and settled themselves in Corn Island, the little band of
warriors thus dropping, as it were, by the way the seeds of civilisation
and domestic life. Again Clarke embarked on the river, and advanced to
within sixty miles of its mouth, where, hiding his boats, he marched by
land to Kaskaskia, which he reached on the evening of July 5th. The
march had been difficult, and having long been short of food, they were
on the point of starvation, but the town and fort being taken by
surprise yielded to the famished men without a struggle. M. Rocheblave,
the British commandant, was taken in his bed, and not a drop of blood
was shed. The inhabitants were mostly French, and the news of the French
alliance with the Americans, and the respect shown by the conqueror to
life, property and religion, disposed the inhabitants to be satisfied,
if not pleased, with the change. The papers of the governor, among which
it was suspected were orders from Hamilton to excite the Indians to
hostility, were immediately either destroyed by his wife or concealed
among her clothes, for “the conqueror, as a gallant son of Virginia,
would not tarnish the fame of his state by an insult to a female;”
therefore the papers remained undiscovered.
After a few days’ rest and refreshment in Kaskaskia, Clarke and his men
proceeded to Cahokia, a small but important post which possessing a
great trade with the Indians, was the depôt of arms and ammunition; this
and another neighbouring post also surrendered without bloodshed.
Besides these conquests, the people of St. Vincent’s, or Vincennes, on
the Wabash, swore allegiance to Virginia, and friendly relations were
established with the Spanish commander at St. Louis, on the other side
of the Mississippi. A party was also sent by Clarke to build a stockade
at the falls of Ohio, which was the first germ of the present city of
Louisville.
Returning to Kaskaskia, Clarke convened the hitherto hostile Indian
tribes, who filled with dread of this boldest of the “Big Knives,” as
they called the Virginians, were easily induced to transfer their
allegiance from the British to the Americans. The territory thus
acquired, embracing all the country north of the Ohio, was erected by
the assembly of Virginia into the county of Illinois.
The army of Washington passed this winter more comfortably than the
last. A supply of clothing had been received from France; and provisions
were secured by congress having laid an embargo on all exports. In fact,
the army was now better fed and supplied than at any former period.
Great discouragement and distress, however, prevailed, owing to the
depreciation of the bills of credit, which had reduced the pay of the
army to a mere trifle, totally insufficient for their needs. The Tory
party also caused many troubles and anxieties; and so dangerous an
element was this in the state, that even after the evacuation of
Philadelphia by the British, when congress had resumed its sittings in
that capital, many wealthy and respectable citizens became amenable to
the law; and two Quakers, John Roberts and Abraham Carlisle, were found
guilty of treason, and spite of every effort being made to save them,
were executed. These trials and executions greatly inflamed the hatred
of the Tories, and party-spirit became still more bitter.
In the minds of the Americans this inveteracy was increased by the late
conduct of the once popular General Arnold, who, in consequence of his
wounds, had been appointed to the military command in Philadelphia, and
to the astonishment and disgust of his friends, showed a great leaning
towards the adverse party, and very soon married a young wife, the
daughter of a Tory family.
Towards the close of the past year America obtained, through her
commissioners in France, a loan from the French court of 3,000,000 of
livres—a very insufficient sum to relieve their present difficulties,
and the obtaining of which led to much quarrelling and party-spirit.
Congress, occupied with disputes which originated in this loan, “was
reduced,” says Hildreth, “to a very low ebb. Many of the abler members
left it; frequently there were not more than twenty-five in attendance.
Washington passed five weeks at the commencement of the year in
Philadelphia, and his letters at that time evince serious alarm at the
state of affairs.”
A scheme for the invasion of Canada by the aid of a French fleet was
entertained at this time by congress, but discouraged by Washington, who
had strong suspicion that if successful it would tend only to the
advantage of France. It was resolved therefore, that all offensive
operations should be confined to an attack on Detroit, and an expedition
against the Six Nations.
The year 1779 commenced by a new issue of paper money, to the amount of
ten millions, and additional bills to about the same amount, at various
times before the month of June. Under this rapid issue, Hildreth tells
us, increased depreciation took place, together with a spirit of
speculation and fraud on the one side, and unfounded jealousies and
suspicion on the other. Prices rose enormously, and while it was
remarked that Tories and speculators grew rapidly rich, honest men and
patriots were reduced to poverty.
But spring was now coming on, and it was necessary to organise the army
for operation. Exclusive of the few troops in the south, the American
army, at the commencement of the campaign of the year, amounted barely
to 16,000. Three thousand of these were with Gates at Providence; 7,000
in the neighbourhood of Middlebrook, the winter-quarters of Washington;
of the remaining 6,000, part were in the Highlands completing the
defences of West Point, under M‘Dougall, and the remainder under Israel
Putnam, on the east side of the Hudson. As the British had 11,000 men at
New York, and 5,000 at Newport, Washington did not deem it prudent to
attack either of these places.
We now return to the South. When Colonel Campbell was despatched to
Georgia, orders were sent to General Prevost in East Florida, to march
his troops to his aid and to assume command. In this march along the
uninhabited coast, which at that time lay between Florida and Georgia,
his soldiers suffered greatly, having frequently no other provisions
than oysters. Sunbury, a fort garrisoned by 200 provincials, Savannah
being at that time in the hands of the British, surrendered with but
little show of resistance. Arrived at Savannah, General Prevost assumed
command, and then despatched Colonel Campbell against Augusta, which
also surrendered, the garrison and the more patriotic inhabitants
escaping across the river Savannah into South Carolina. The whole of
Georgia was thus in the hands of the British.
When the news of this easy conquest reached Charleston, the South
Carolina militia were called out, but the call was reluctantly obeyed.
The American forces under General Lincoln, principally consisting of
North Carolina militia, amounted to about 1,400, and these were
stationed to guard the passages of the Savannah river, which formed the
boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. Although the troops of
Prevost amounted to a much larger number, he hesitated to attack
Charleston, but sent an expedition against Port Royal, which was so
bravely defended by General Moultrie, that they were defeated with
considerable loss.
The population of the three southern provinces, Georgia and the two
Carolinas, was of a mixed character, without any bond of religion or
interest, very different indeed to that of the north. The wealthy
planters along the sea-coast were mostly Whigs, but the excess of slave
population left the country without soldiers. The interior of the
country was occupied by scattered settlements of Dutch, Germans,
Quakers, Irish Presbyterians and Scotch Highlanders, who held little
intercourse with each other. The Quakers, Dutch and Germans, meddling
little with politics, inclined to submit to the British army for the
sake of peace and quietness. The Irish Presbyterians were Whigs, the
Scotch Highlanders Tories, as were the so-called Regulators of North
Carolina, and the Scotch and British traders of the interior.[24]
The success of the British in Georgia encouraged the loyalists of these
remote regions to rise. They were many of them men to whom excitement of
any kind was welcome. Hardy and desperate in their lives, they are
described by a writer of those days as having long been in the condition
of outlaws, ready to attach themselves to the Indians or any others for
incursions on the frontiers. The nature and remoteness of the country
enabled them to keep up a free intercourse with their old friends,
like-minded with themselves, who had however, for the sake of remaining
quiet, submitted to the present government. From these circumstances,
and the cast of mind acquired by their constant intercourse with the
savages, they were ever ready to take up arms, and many of those who
continued in the occupation of their farms and had the character of
peaceable men, occasionally joined those parties which were openly in
arms on the frontiers, and bore a share in all the devastation they
committed.[25]
About 700 of these people therefore embodied themselves, and set out
towards Augusta, intending there to join the royal troops, and
committing great devastation and many cruelties by the way. They were,
however, attacked by a body of South Carolina militia, under Colonel
Pickens, when very near the end of their march; their leader, Colonel
Boyd, was slain; 400 of their number killed or taken prisoners, seventy
of whom, being put on trial for treason, were found guilty, but five
only of the most influential executed; the remaining 300 reached
Augusta.
The most terrible feature of the war in the south was the rancorous
party-spirit which prevailed in it. Four battalions of Carolina
loyalists had already joined the British army in Georgia, one of which
was commanded by a Colonel Brown, originally a trader. This man who had
formerly been tarred and feathered by the Whigs now pursued them with
implacable hatred, and, following the example set at Augusta, hung all
his Whig prisoners.
General Lincoln being reinforced by accessions of militia which had
arrived for the protection of South Carolina, was stationed at
Purysburg, on the north bank of the Savannah, about twenty miles above
the city of that name, and now despatched General Ashe, with about 2,000
men of the Georgia and Carolina militia, to take up a position nearly
opposite Augusta. On this movement General Prevost recalled the British
force from that place, with orders to take up their post at Hudson’s
Ferry, lower down the river. On the retreat of the British, Lincoln,
whose intention it was to retake Georgia and confine Prevost to the
coast, ordered General Ashe to leave his baggage behind, to cross over
into Georgia and take up his position at Briar Creek, a very strong
situation. This was done; Briar Creek, which was too deep to be forded,
covered his front, the river Savannah and a deep morass covered his
left, and 200 horse guarded his right. No attack was suspected; General
Prevost manœuvred on the banks of the river between Ebenezer and
Savannah, and Lincoln kept himself on the alert, expecting that the
danger lay in that quarter. In the meantime a detachment was proceeding
by a circuitous march to attack Ashe’s rear, while another detachment
advanced as if to attack Lincoln in front, where he was unassailable,
but in fact merely to divert his attention. The feint was entirely
successful. The rear, totally unprepared for attack, was surprised in
open daylight, and throwing down their arms without firing a shot, whole
regiments of militia fled. The deep creek and the marsh, otherwise their
security, became thus the means of their destruction. Stupified by
terror, great numbers were drowned in the one and swallowed up in the
other. A few officers and one North Carolina regiment endeavoured to
retrieve the fortunes of the day by a brave but ineffectual defence; but
the chances were all against them. About 400 were killed and made
prisoners, among the latter of whom was Brigadier-General Elbert, a
brave man and the second in command; the numbers who perished in the
river and the swamp are unknown; 450 were all who rejoined Lincoln’s
army. Seven pieces of cannon, almost all their arms and ammunition, and
such baggage as they had with them, fell into the hands of the British,
whose loss only amounted to five killed and eleven wounded.
This disastrous and disgraceful defeat enabled the British to reoccupy
Augusta, and gave them once more undisputed possession of Georgia. Such
being the case, Prevost secured the co-operation of the loyalists, by
proclaiming Sir James Wright governor and reestablishing a royal
legislature, as it existed before 1775.
The present alarming state of affairs was useful in arousing the
Carolinians. Every effort was now made to reinforce General Lincoln’s
army. John Rutledge, a popular man, in whom all had confidence, was
appointed governor and vested with extraordinary powers; a stringent
militia law was enforced, and by the middle of April, two months after
the defeat at Briar Creek, Lincoln found himself at the head of 5,000
men. About the end of that month, therefore, leaving General Moultrie
with 1,500 troops to garrison the lower passes of the river, at
Purysburg and the Black Swamp, Lincoln, hoping to recover the upper
parts of Georgia, as well as to protect the meeting of the assembly of
that state, quitted his position, which had hitherto enabled him to
protect Charleston, and proceeded towards Augusta. The movement was
unfortunate. No sooner was he gone than General Prevost, whose force had
received a considerable accession of loyalists from South Carolina as
well as Georgia, resolved to cross the river and penetrate into
Carolina, where he knew that the royal cause had many friends, and at
the same time to obtain a good store of provisions, of which he was in
want. Crossing the Savannah, therefore, at the end of April, with about
3,000 men, Prevost advanced forward with but little opposition from
Moultrie, whose troops behaved no better than those of Ashe at Briar
Creek, though defended like them by almost impassable swamps, and who
now fled before him to Charleston. The ease with which every impediment
was overcome by the British army, the assurance which the general
received on all hands from the loyalist party that Charleston would
surrender without resistance on his first appearance, furnished a new
object to his enterprise.
Lincoln was on his way to Augusta, when news reached him of the British
army having crossed the Savannah, and believing it only a foraging
expedition, he contented himself with sending off a battalion to
reinforce Moultrie. A few days later an express conveyed to him the more
serious information that the British army was now several days on its
march towards Charleston; the country was up, and hundreds flocking to
the royal standard. Without a moment’s delay the American army now
re-crossed the river, and a detachment on horseback was sent forward for
the greater despatch.
The British army was in the meantime advancing on the capital of South
Carolina, almost without opposition. Moultrie’s militia, which was
retreating before him, was weakened at every turn; for as the effects
and families of the militia lay on the very line of retreat, they
deserted for considerations which were nearer to them than patriotism
and honour. The British general himself, astonished at his undertaking,
delayed and deliberated instead of availing himself of all the
advantages which offered; which had he done, and marched at once upon
Charleston, he might have taken the city at once. As it was, the
townspeople had time to throw up fortifications, at which every master
and slave laboured alike; and Charleston was saved for that time.
On the 11th of May the British army appeared before the city, and
Moultrie, with the remains of his troops, the battalion despatched by
Lincoln, and Rutledge with 500 militia, were then within its walls.
Pulaski and his legion arrived at the same time as the enemy, while
Lincoln with his army might be daily expected. There was no immediate
fear, therefore, for the town, and Rutledge, when summoned to surrender
under favourable conditions, proposed stipulations of neutrality for
South Carolina during the war. The terms of each party were rejected by
the other, and the townspeople and garrison prepared for a general
assault, which was expected on the morrow. The British general now found
himself in a difficult and dangerous position. The spirit friendly to
the royal cause, which he had been led to expect in Charleston, did not
meet him there; on the contrary, the town was prepared for vigorous
resistance; he had neither battering artillery nor a naval force to
co-operate with him, and Lincoln, with a force equal if not superior to
his own, might hourly be looked for. Under these considerations it was
better to provide for his own safety than to risk a doubtful contest.
Leaving, therefore, a guard at the river Ashley, the British troops
quietly retreated during the night, the garrison, who stood to their
arms all night in fear of a sudden attack, not having the least
suspicion of such a movement. The enemy had retreated to the islands of
St. James and St. John, which lie to the southward of Charleston
harbour—the commencement of a labyrinth of islands which continue to the
sea. These islands, being well cultivated and fertile, afforded good
quarters and excellent provision for his army, which retired in a few
days, carrying off with them about 4,000 slaves as booty. Lincoln, in
the meantime, having arrived, attacked the British at Stono River, where
was a strong redoubt between the mainland and St. John’s Island. The
attack was made with great spirit, and so vigorously repelled, that the
Americans were obliged to retire with considerable loss.
The hot season was now at hand, and both the British and American troops
began to suffer severely from fever. In order, therefore, to have an
eligible retreat for his army during the intense heats and the unhealthy
season which was commencing, and at the same time to keep hold on South
Carolina, General Prevost determined to secure possession of Beaufort,
in Port Royal, by placing a garrison there under Colonel Maitland, after
which he retired to Savannah with his main army.
While these events were occurring in South Carolina, Sir Henry Clinton
despatched from New York a fleet under command of Commodore Collier, now
appointed to the naval command in America, with 2,000 troops under
Major-General Mathews, to make a descent upon Virginia, and by
devastating the coast and plundering the country, to inflict as much
misery and ruin on the colonies as possible. Entering the Chesapeake,
the squadron which escorted the troops advanced up Elizabeth River, and
took possession of the town and fort of Portsmouth, the garrison of
which, knowing themselves incapable of defence, fled at the approach of
the enemy. On the opposite side of the river stood the town of Norfolk,
which having already been destroyed in the present war was just
recovering from its ruin, and now also fell into the hands of the enemy.
These two towns were the seats of the Virginian foreign export trade,
which, spite of the war, was considerable; and higher up the river lay
Gosport, where the state of Virginia had established a navy yard. A
great number of ships lay at these different places, among the rest two
large French merchantmen laden with tobacco, which the Americans burnt,
together with several of their own ships, on the approach of the fleet,
to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. In the meantime
detachments having landed carried fire and sword inland. The town of
Suffolk was attacked and plundered, as were the villages of Kempes’,
Shepherd’s and Tanner’s Creeks. “Within a fortnight,” says the British
chronicler of that day, “while the fleet and army continued on the
coast, the loss of the Americans was prodigious.” To say nothing of
cruelty, outrage, and general devastation practised on defenceless
people, above 130 ships and vessels of various kinds were destroyed.
“Seventeen were brought away as prizes, all that were on the stocks were
burnt, naval stores were carried off or destroyed, as well as everything
relative to the building or fitting up of ships. Among other booty
carried off were 3,000 hogsheads of tobacco. The damage done in this
expedition was estimated at above half a million sterling.”[26]
Spite of the flattering assurances of support which the naval and
military commanders received from the loyalist inhabitants of Virginia,
and which were eagerly reported by them to Sir Henry Clinton, and spite
of the advantages which they urged would accrue to the royalist cause by
converting Portsmouth into a place of arms, and thus destroying the
trade of the Chesapeake, Sir Henry issued orders of recall; and the
fleet and the army having fired the storehouses and dock-yard buildings
of Gosport, set sail with their booty and prizes, and reached New York
within a month of their setting sail.
The British troops were needed to assist in an attack on the American
works, situated at Stony and Verplank’s Points, two opposite projections
on the Hudson, about forty miles north of New York, and highly important
to the Americans, as commanding a ferry, the loss of which would oblige
them to make a detour of ninety miles through the mountains, to
communicate with the eastern and southern provinces. To prevent the
completion of these works, therefore, Sir Henry Clinton undertook an
expedition in person, which set out on the last day of May. His first
object of attack was Stony Point on the west bank of the river, which
being unfinished and incapable of defence was evacuated at his approach.
Cannon placed on the heights of Stony Point unfortunately commanded
Verplank’s Point, on which a little fortress called La Fayette was just
completed, and this being invested from the land side also was
compelled, after a brave resistance, to surrender. These important works
being secured, Clinton ordered them immediately to be completed, and on
the 2nd of June encamped his army at Philipsburg, half-way between
Verplank’s Point and New York; and Washington, in order the better to
cover the yet unfinished works of the Americans in the Highlands, which
were endangered by the garrisons of these conquered posts, removed his
army from Middlebrook to New Jersey.
While the campaign on land was confined to the surprise of posts and
desultory expeditions, the Connecticut cruisers, with their whaleboats
and other small craft, seriously inconvenienced and distressed the
British army and the loyalist city of New York, by intercepting and
taking almost every vessel that came upon their waters, and in
preventing any intercourse with Long Island, whence the supplies of the
army and city were principally sent. To put a stop to this annoyance, as
well as to make a most severe retaliation, Sir Henry Clinton ordered
ex-governor Tryon, now a general officer, to embark with about 2,600
men. On July 5th, the fleet reached New Haven, which was plundered and
the fort with everything available for naval or military purposes
destroyed; but the town was spared because the inhabitants made but
small resistance. Fairfield and Norwalk, however, two other ports having
a stronger military force, fared much worse; both towns, together with
Greenfield, a village near Norwalk, were set on fire and everything of
value destroyed. The loss which the Americans sustained in this
predatory expedition was very great; besides houses and other property,
shipping of all kinds with stores and merchandise were destroyed
totally. After these devastations on the mainland, he was proceeding to
Long Island, intending to make a descent on New London, when he was
suddenly recalled. Whether he had exceeded the orders of Clinton in
these outrages, or whether his forces were required in another
direction, of which we shall speak anon, is not known; but probably the
former cause had some influence, for Tryon deemed it necessary to excuse
the fires and destruction which marked his career, by a letter to the
general, in which he said that the Americans, or _usurpers_, as he
called them, placed their hopes of securing the empire by avoiding
decisive actions, and in the escape of their own property during the
protraction of the war. Their power, he said, was supported by the dread
of their tyranny and the arts which they practised to inspire the
credulous public with confidence in the forbearance of the royal forces.
It had been his wish, therefore, to detect this delusion, and that
without injury to the loyalists. All that he regretted was that places
of worship were burnt; but these, he said, being built of boards and
standing among the houses, could not be preserved, it being impossible
to fix limits to a conflagration.
The surprise of Verplank’s and Stony Points had, as we have said, called
Washington out of New Jersey, and he was now encamped on high and strong
ground above those places, and on each side of North River. Sir Henry
Clinton desired nothing more than to draw him down from these fastnesses
into the flat country, and bring on a general engagement in such ground
as would insure success to the British army. But Washington was too wary
to be seduced into such an error. Nevertheless he was not inactive.
While the two armies lay, as it were, watching each other, a bold
enterprise was undertaken and executed with so much spirit and success
as to be the most brilliant action of the whole campaign. This was no
other than the surprise and retaking of Stony Point, the works of which
had been now carefully completed and strongly garrisoned by the British.
Washington appointed General Wayne to this arduous task. On the 15th of
July this detachment set out, having to march over mountains, across
morasses, and through difficult defiles, where they were obliged to
advance in single file the greater part of the way. By eight in the
evening they were within a mile of the fort, when they halted and formed
into two columns as they came up; after which Wayne and his officers
silently reconnoitred the works. About midnight the two columns marched
to the attack from different points; and here it is worth observing that
the van, consisting of 150 picked men, advanced with unloaded muskets
and bayonets fixed—the bayonet, which had been so often fatal to the
Americans, being the only weapon used in this attack. The most wonderful
discipline prevailed in these troops; both columns were commanded not to
fire a shot, and not a shot was fired. They advanced through the most
difficult approaches, the ground being covered at that time with the
tide, through a morass, removing as they went the formidable works in
front and flank, and in the face of an incessant fire of musketry. On
they went, their numbers thinned at every step, and at about one in the
morning the two columns met at the same moment in the centre of the
works. Wayne, though wounded in the head, refused to retire; his loss in
killed and wounded was about 100; about fifty of the garrison were
killed; the remainder, 450, were made prisoners.
As soon as Stony Point was taken, the artillery was turned against
Verplank’s; but before anything could be effected, the news of the
former achievement had reached Sir Henry Clinton, and the whole British
army marched out, whilst the navy advanced up the river to the scene of
action. But Washington, who had already completed the object he had in
view, which was no other than the destruction of the works and the
carrying away the artillery and stores, abandoned the place before the
arrival of the British either by land or water.
About the same time that Stony Point was recaptured by Wayne, Major Lee
surprised the British garrison at Paulus Hook, New Jersey city, a point
of land opposite New York; killed thirty and took 160 prisoners. These
triumphs, however, were painfully counterbalanced by an unsuccessful
attempt in the north. During the summer an expedition had been
undertaken by the British to plant a strong post on the Penobscot, in
the eastern and unsettled parts of Maine, which, causing serious alarm,
led the state of Massachusetts to fit out an expedition to prevent its
accomplishment. So urgent and important was the undertaking considered,
that in order to secure armed vessels and transports, Massachusetts laid
an embargo on its shipping for forty days. By this means a very
considerable armament was fitted out with no loss of time, under the
conduct of Commodore Saltonstall, a Connecticut sea-captain.
Fifteen hundred militia were embarked in this fleet, under General
Lovel, a man greatly beloved and esteemed, though without military
experience.[27] On the 25th July, the fleet, to the amount of
thirty-seven sail, appeared in the Penobscot, the British colonel,
Macleane, having in the meantime put the unfinished fort in as complete
a state of defence as the time permitted. With great labour and the loss
of about 100 men, the American general at length effected a landing, and
on the third day opened a battery, in spite of which, and for many days
afterwards, the internal works of the fort went on every day adding to
its strength. For a whole fortnight this was continued, cannonading from
without, and increasing strength within. At length a general attack both
of the fort and the shipping was resolved upon; intelligence of which
being carried to the commander by a deserter, he instantly threw up new
works which covered the place. But this precaution was unnecessary; news
of this expedition had already reached Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir George
Collier was despatched with five ships of war to the Penobscot. The
commander and the garrison were awaiting the expected attack on the 11th
of August, the day intended for it, when, to their infinite
astonishment, the Americans were gone; they had during the night
re-embarked their forces and artillery, and were nowhere to be seen. At
the first approach of the British they had fled up the river. The enemy
pursued, three sloops of war which had been confined to the harbour now
joining in the chase. Escape was impossible; five frigates and ten
smaller vessels were run ashore and blown up; the remainder were taken.
The soldiers and sailors escaped to the shore, but the whole region in
which they found themselves was a desolate and uninhabited wilderness.
The indignation of the land forces on this dastardly termination of
their enterprise was so great, that they are said to have come to blows
with the seamen in the dreary solitudes through which they had to travel
before they could reach an inhabited country. Saltonstall was tried by
court-martial and cashiered.
Besides the humiliation and shame of this flight, the loss to Boston in
its shipping was almost ruinous. Nineteen vessels of which the squadron
consisted were destroyed or taken—a force, it is said, little inferior
to that of the royal navy of England at the accession of Elizabeth.
We must now for a moment return to the frontiers to see what is going on
there, and taking Hildreth for our guide we shall receive a lucid
summary of events. “George Rogers Clarke, still commanding in the
newly-conquered Illinois, was giving fresh proofs of vigour and
enterprise, and extending also the authority of Virginia. Hamilton, the
British commandant of Detroit, descended the Wabash with eighty soldiers
to watch Clarke, and organise an expedition against him, in which he
expected to be greatly aided by the Indians. Informed of these facts by
a French trader, Clarke mustered 170 men, and after sixteen days’ march,
five of which were spent in wading the drowned lands on the Wabash,
suddenly appeared before Vincennes, which the British had recaptured,
and where Hamilton then was. The fort surrendered in a few days, and
Hamilton was sent prisoner to Virginia on the charge of having
instigated the Indians to cruelty against the colonial settlers.
Security being thus given against the Indians north of the Ohio, the
settlement of Kentucky began rapidly to increase, and in April of this
year a log-erection formed the commencement of the present city of
Lexington. By the Virginia land system, all who had settled west of the
mountains before June of the preceding year were entitled to 400 acres,
merely for the payment of the taxes on that quantity of land. The whole
tract between the Green River and the Tennessee was reserved for
military bounties.
While Clarke was extending the domains of Virginia, the first
settlements took place in Western Tennessee, under the guidance of James
Robinson, who eleven years before had been the patriarch and founder of
Eastern Tennessee. With a company of ten persons he followed the Oby to
its junction with the Cumberland; some of his companions embarked there,
while the rest pursued the riverbanks by land to the spot where now
stands the city of Nashville. Here, planting a crop of corn, and leaving
three persons to watch it, they returned for their families. Some
travelled through the woods, driving their cattle before them; others
embarked with the women and children on the head waters of the
Tennessee, intending to descend that river to its mouth and then proceed
up the Cumberland. But a severe winter delayed them by the way, and
their destination was not reached till the following spring.
Thus sprung up the future states of the West, and the red man retired
from before the white. In the meantime war, which the Indian rendered so
much more formidable from his British alliance, was continued on the
western frontiers of the eastern states. Again we will follow our former
guide. “The Six Nations, with the exception of the Oneidas, carried on a
border warfare. The Senecas, and the loyalist refugees among them,
ravaged the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania; and the Onondagas,
though professing neutrality, shared in their hostilities.
“To check these depredations, a strong force under General Sullivan was
sent against them. The troops assembled at Wyoming, where they were
joined by a New York brigade, under James Clinton, who effected the
junction of the troops in a singular manner; crossing from the Mohawk,
where he had been stationed, to Lake Otsego, he dammed up the lake, and
so raised up its level, and then, by breaking away the dam, produced an
artificial flood, by which the boats were rapidly earned down the
north-east branch of the Susquehannah. While this was being effected,
the terrible Brandt surprised, plundered and burnt the village of
Minisink, near the north-west corner of Jersey; and a detachment of
militia sent in pursuit, falling into an ambush, were nearly all slain.
“Sullivan’s army, amounting to 5,000 men, passed up the Chemung branch
of the Susquehannah, in the month of August, and at Elmira encountered a
strong body of combined Indians and loyalists, under Brandt, Butler and
Johnson, which they completely defeated, and in pursuit crossed into the
hitherto unexplored valley of the Genessee. In order that the want of
food might compel the Indians and their allies to quit that part of the
country, everything was ravaged. The ancient Indian orchards were cut
down, vast quantities of corn were destroyed, and eighteen villages
burnt to the ground. This expedition, through an unknown country,
covered for the most part with thick forests, was extremely laborious,
nor did it wholly accomplish its object; the Indians and loyalists,
though dispersed for the moment, soon renewed their depredations, which
were continued as long as the British war lasted, and to which the fury
of revenge now added increased ferocity.”