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[Illustration: WASHINGTON]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON
AND THE
AMERICAN REPUBLIC
BY
BENSON J. LOSSING
NEW-YORK: VIRTUE AND YORSTON]
WASHINGTON
AND THE
AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
BY
Benson J. Lossing,
_AUTHOR OF "PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR," "FIELD-BOOK OF THE
REVOLUTION," "FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF 1812," ETC. ETC._
VOLUME III.
NEW YORK:
VIRTUE & YORSTON,
12 DEY STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by VIRTUE &
YORSTON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
[Transcriber's Note: The caret (^) has been used to mark subscript in the
text version. A Table of Contents has been added. Obvious printer errors,
including punctuation, have been corrected. All other inconsistencies have
been left as they were in the original.]
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I 1
CHAPTER II 13
CHAPTER III 32
CHAPTER IV 40
CHAPTER V 53
CHAPTER VI 63
CHAPTER VII 74
CHAPTER VIII 92
CHAPTER IX 103
CHAPTER X 114
CHAPTER XI 125
CHAPTER XII 135
CHAPTER XIII 147
CHAPTER XIV 161
CHAPTER XV 167
CHAPTER XVI 178
CHAPTER XVII 192
CHAPTER XVIII 205
CHAPTER XIX 219
CHAPTER XX 230
CHAPTER XXI 243
CHAPTER XXII 258
CHAPTER XXIII 271
CHAPTER XXIV 283
CHAPTER XXV 292
CHAPTER XXVI 307
CHAPTER XXVII 323
CHAPTER XXVIII 334
CHAPTER XXIX 348
CHAPTER XXX 368
CHAPTER XXXI 378
CHAPTER XXXII 390
CHAPTER XXXIII 417
CHAPTER XXXIV 435
CHAPTER XXXV 447
CHAPTER XXXVI 465
CHAPTER XXXVII 479
CHAPTER XXXVIII 491
CHAPTER XXXIX 501
CHAPTER XL 517
CHAPTER XLI 527
CHAPTER XLII 550
CHAPTER XLIII 573
CHAPTER XLIV 584
WASHINGTON MEMORIALS 605
ANALYTICAL INDEX 613
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. III.
PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON (AFTER STUART) FRONTISPIECE.
WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE VIGNETTE TITLE.
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS NEAR NEWBURG 7
ENTRANCE OF THE AMERICAN ARMY INTO NEW YORK,
NOVEMBER 25, 1783 33
WASHINGTON PRESIDING IN THE CONVENTION, 1787 63
PORTRAITS OF RUFUS KING, JOHN DICKINSON, GOUVERNEUR MORRIS,
OLIVER ELLSWORTH, AND JOHN RUTLEDGE 64
WASHINGTON ENTERING TRENTON 87
RECEPTION OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON AT NEW YORK,
APRIL 23, 1789 89
PORTRAITS OF COMMANDERS HOPKINS, TALBOT, PAUL JONES,
DALE, AND BARRY 295
PORTRAIT OF JOHN ADAMS 472
WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER I.
WASHINGTON RECEIVES CHEERING NEWS FROM GREENE--SIEGE OF FORT
NINETY-SIX--SUCCESS OF PARTISAN CORPS ELSEWHERE--CAPTURE OF AUGUSTA
BY THE AMERICANS--RAWDON APPROACHES NINETY-SIX--GREENE ABANDONS THE
SIEGE--RAWDON RETIRES TO ORANGEBURG FOLLOWED BY GREENE--GREENE
ENCAMPS ON THE HIGH HILLS OF SANTEE--STEWART AND CRUGER AT
ORANGEBURG--RAWDON GOES TO ENGLAND--BATTLE AT EUTAW SPRINGS--THE
UPPER COUNTRY IN POSSESSION OF THE AMERICANS--SERVICES OF MARION AND
OTHER PARTISANS--BRITISH CONFINED TO THE SEABOARD--DEATH OF JOHN
PARKE CUSTIS--WASHINGTON ADOPTS HIS CHILDREN--WASHINGTON CO-OPERATES
WITH CONGRESS--JOINS THE ARMY ON THE HUDSON--DISCONTENTS IN THE
ARMY--PROPOSITION TO MAKE WASHINGTON KING--HIS REBUKE--PEACE
MOVEMENTS--WASHINGTON'S CAUTION--JUNCTION OF THE FRENCH AND AMERICAN
ARMIES--EVACUATION OF SAVANNAH AND CHARLESTON.
We have observed, that with the capture of Cornwallis and his army, the
War for Independence was virtually ended, but that some blood flowed
afterward, and that hostile forces were arrayed against each other for
several months longer, before the two nations agreed to fight no more.
Let us take a brief survey of events, from the siege of Yorktown until
the declaration of peace, and the departure of the last British troops
from our shores.
On the evening of the ninth of October, just as Lincoln, having
completed the first parallel before Yorktown, ordered a battery to open
upon the British works, Washington received encouraging intelligence
from General Greene in the far South. Greene was then encamped upon the
High Hills of Santee, having, a little more than a week previous to the
date of his letter, been engaged in a bloody battle with the enemy at
Eutaw Springs.
In a former chapter we left Greene on his march to attack Fort
Ninety-Six, situated in Abbeville district in South Carolina, within
about six miles of the Saluda river. It was then garrisoned by five
hundred and fifty loyalists, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Cruger, of New York. Sumter having cut off all communication between
Camden and Ninety-Six, Cruger had not received Rawdon's orders to join
Brown at Augusta, but remained, and was using every endeavor to
strengthen his works.
Greene arrived before Ninety-Six on the twenty-second of May, with less
than a thousand regulars and a few raw militia. Kosciuszko, the brave
Pole, was his chief engineer, and under his direction the Americans
commenced making regular approaches, by parallels, for the works were
too strong to be taken by assault. For almost a month the work went on,
enlivened by an occasional sortie and skirmish. Then news came that Lord
Rawdon was approaching with a strong force to the relief of Cruger.
Greene's troops were full of spirit, and were anxious to storm the works
before his lordship's arrival. Consent was given by the commander, and
on the eighteenth an assault was made, and a bloody contest ensued. The
Americans were repulsed, and on the following day Greene raised the
siege and retreated across the Saluda. Rawdon pursued him a short
distance, and, having accomplished the object of his errand, wheeled,
and marched toward Orangeburg.
While the siege of Ninety-Six was in progress, partisan corps were
elsewhere successful. Lee captured Fort Galphin, twelve miles below
Augusta, and then sent an officer to the latter post to demand its
surrender from Brown. The summons was disregarded, and Lee, Pickens, and
Clarke, commenced a siege. It lasted several days, and on the fifth of
June, the fort and its dependencies at Augusta were surrendered to the
republicans. Lee and Pickens then joined Greene at Ninety-Six, and with
him retreated beyond the Saluda.
And now Greene and Rawdon changed their relative positions, the former
becoming the pursuer of the latter, in his march toward Orangeburg.
Finding Rawdon strongly entrenched there, Greene deemed it prudent not
to attack him; and the sickly season approaching, he crossed the
Congaree with his little army, and encamped upon the High Hills of
Santee, below Camden, where pure air and water might be found in
abundance.
Considering the post at Ninety-Six quite untenable, Rawdon ordered
Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger to abandon it and join him at Orangeburg.
There Rawdon was met by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, who had come up from
Charleston with an Irish regiment. As Greene had gone into
summer-quarters apparently, and the American partisans were just then
quiet, his lordship left all his forces in charge of Stewart, went down
to Charleston, and embarked for Europe to seek the restoration of his
health.
Soon after encamping on the High Hills of Santee, Greene detached Sumter
with about a thousand light troops to scour the lower country and beat
up the British posts in the vicinity of Charleston. His assistants were
those bold partisans, Lee, Marion, Horry, the Hamptons, and other brave
republican leaders, with troops accustomed to the swamps and sandy
lowlands. These performed excellent service in preparing the way for the
expulsion of the enemy from the interior of South Carolina.
Early in August Greene was reinforced by North Carolina troops, under
General Sumner; and toward the close of the month, he broke up his
encampment, crossed the Wateree, and marched upon Orangeburg. Stewart,
who had been joined by Cruger, immediately retreated to Eutaw Springs,
near the southwest bank of the Santee, and there encamped. Greene
followed, and on the morning of the eighth of September, a very severe
battle commenced. The British were finally expelled from the camp,
leaving their tents standing, and almost everything but their arms
behind them.
Greene's troops, unmindful of their commander's orders, had spread
themselves through the abandoned camp to plunder, eat, and drink, when
the enemy unexpectedly and suddenly renewed the battle. After a bloody
conflict of four hours the Americans were compelled to give way. "It was
by far the most obstinate fight I ever saw," Greene wrote to Washington.
Stewart feeling insecure, for the American partisan legions were
hovering around him, retreated toward Charleston that night.
On the morning of the ninth Greene advanced and took possession of the
battle-field, and sent detachments in pursuit of Stewart. A victory was
claimed by both parties. Washington seemed to consider it as such for
Greene. "Fortune," he said, in a letter to him, "must have been coy
indeed, had she not yielded at last to so persevering a pursuer as you
have been." Yet there was no victory in the case. The advantage
evidently lay with the Americans. The contest had been a most sanguinary
one. The loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and missing, was five
hundred and fifty-five; that of the British six hundred and
ninety-three. The bravery, skill, and caution of Greene, and the general
good conduct of his troops, were applauded by the whole country.
Congress ordered a gold medal to be struck in commemoration of the
event, and presented to Greene. A British standard captured on that
occasion was also presented to him.
Many of his troops being sick, Greene again retired to the High Hills of
Santee, where he remained until the middle of November. There, on the
thirtieth of October, he was informed of the glorious events at
Yorktown, and the day was made jubilant with the rejoicings of the army.
The whole upper country of the Carolinas and Georgia was now in
possession of the republicans. Nothing remained to be done, but to drive
in the British outposts, and hem them within the narrow precincts of
their lines at Charleston and Savannah. Marion, Sumter, Lee, and other
partisans, performed this service effectually.
Greene finally crossed the Congaree and moved with his army to the
vicinity of Charleston. The object of his campaign was accomplished. He
had driven the enemy to the margin of the sea, and he was prepared to
keep them there. Marion and his men lingered around the headwaters of
the Cooper river to watch their movements, and to prevent their
incursions beyond Charleston. St. Clair had come down from Yorktown, and
had driven the British from Wilmington. Governor Rutledge had called the
legislators of South Carolina together at Jacksonboro', to re-establish
civil government in that state, and Greene's army lay as a guard between
them and the enemy at Charleston. In that city and Savannah only, did
the British have a foothold south of the Delaware at the close of 1781;
and Wayne, with vigilant eye and supple limb, lay not far from the
latter place, closely watching the British there. The war was virtually
at an end in the South.
Let us turn to the consideration of Washington's movements after the
capitulation at Yorktown.
In the midst of the rejoicings because of the great victory,
Washington's heart was made sad by domestic affliction. His stepson,
John Parke Custis, who had followed him to the field as his aid-de-camp,
sickened before the close of the siege. Anxious to participate in the
pleasures of the victory, he remained in camp until the completion of
the surrender, when he retired to Eltham, the seat of Colonel Bassett,
who had married Mrs. Washington's sister. His malady (camp-fever) had
increased, and Washington sent Doctor Craik with him. A courier was also
despatched to Mount Vernon for his wife and mother; and on the fifth of
November, having arranged all public business at Yorktown, Washington
set out for Eltham. He arrived there, as he wrote to Lafayette, "time
enough to see poor Mr. Custis breathe his last."
The grief of Washington was very great, and he wept bitterly. He had
watched over that young man from his earliest childhood with paternal
affection and solicitude; and with pride he had seen him take public
position as a member of the Virginia assembly. Now, at the age of
twenty-eight years, he was taken from him. The mother was almost
unconsolable, and the young wife was sorely smitten by the bereavement.
Washington's heart deeply sympathized with them, and there, in the
death-chamber, he formally adopted the two younger children of Mrs.
Custis, who thenceforth became members of his family. These were
Eleanor Parke Custis, who married Lawrence Lewis, the favorite nephew of
Washington, and George Washington Parke Custis, who lived until the
autumn of 1857.
Washington proceeded directly from Eltham to Mount Vernon, only halting
at Fredericksburg to see his mother, and join in some public ceremonials
there, in honor of himself and the French officers. But he sought not
the quiet of his home for purposes of repose, for he was not to be
seduced into the practices engendered by a fancied security because of
the late brilliant victory. On the contrary, his apprehensions were
painfully awakened to the danger which the prevalence of such confidence
might occasion, and he wrote to General Greene, saying:--
"I shall remain but a few days here, and shall proceed to
Philadelphia, where I shall attempt to stimulate Congress to the
best improvement of our late success, by taking the most vigorous
and effectual measures to be ready for an early and decisive
campaign, the next year. My greatest fear is, that Congress,
viewing this stroke in too important a point of light, may think
our work too nearly closed, and will fall into a state of languor
and relaxation. To prevent this error, I will employ every means in
my power, and if unhappily we sink into that fatal mistake no part
of the blame shall be mine."
A little later he wrote to Greene from Philadelphia, saying: "I am
apprehensive that the states, elated by the late success, and taking it
for granted that Great Britain will no longer support so losing a
contest, will relax in their preparations for the next campaign. I am
detained here by Congress to assist in the arrangements for the next
year; and I shall not fail, in conjunction with the financier, the
minister of foreign affairs, and the secretary at war, who are all most
heartily well-disposed, to impress upon Congress, and get them to
impress upon the respective states, the necessity of the most vigorous
exertions."
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS NEAR NEWBURG]
Washington had been received in Philadelphia with distinguished honors,
at the close of November. With his usual energy and industry, he pressed
forward military arrangements for the campaign of 1782, and by his
continual importunities, he awakened Congress to the importance of being
prepared for another year of active duty in the field. On the tenth of
December that body, by resolution, made a requisition of men and money
from the southern states, and the resolve was warmly seconded by
Washington, in letters to the respective governors of those states.
Franklin, at the same time, was using the most strenuous exertions in
France to procure more aid from that power; and when intelligence of the
capitulation of Yorktown reached the French court, Vergennes promised a
loan of six millions to the United States.
Washington remained four months in Philadelphia, and then joined the
army near Newburg, on the Hudson. The allied forces had been dissolved.
The troops under the Marquis St. Simon had sailed from the Chesapeake in
De Grasse's fleet early in November; the French troops, under
Rochambeau, remained in Virginia; the remainder of the American army,
after St. Clair's force was detached to the South, proceeded northward,
under the command of Lincoln, and took post on the Hudson and in the
Jerseys, so as to be ready to operate against New York in the spring;
and Lafayette, perceiving no probability of active service immediately,
obtained leave of absence from the Congress, and returned to France to
visit his family.
We have already noticed the proceedings in the British house of commons
on the subject of peace with the Americans. Early in May, 1782, Sir Guy
Carleton arrived in New York as the successor of Sir Henry Clinton in
the chief command of the British forces; and in a letter dated the
seventh of that month, he informed Washington that he and Admiral Digby
were joint commissioners to make arrangements for a truce or peace. Even
this friendly approach of British officials did not make Washington any
the less vigilant and active, and he continued his preparations for
further hostilities, with all the means in his power.
With the dawning of the day of peace great discontents in the army were
developed. It prevailed equally among officers and private soldiers,
and originated in the destitute condition of the troops at that time,
and the conviction that the army would be disbanded without provision
being made for the liquidation of the claims upon the government for the
pay of arrearages, and the promised half-pay of the officers for a term
of years after the conclusion of the war. The prospect was, indeed,
gloomy. For a long time the public treasury had been empty; and
thousands of the soldiers, many of them invalids, made so by their hard
service for their country, would be compelled to seek a livelihood in
the midst of the desolation which war had produced. In this state of
things, and with such prospects, many sighed for a change. They lost
faith in the republican form of government, as they saw it in its
practical workings under the _Articles of Confederation_, and they
earnestly desired something stronger--perhaps an elective or
constitutional monarchy.
Washington had perceived these growing discontents with anxiety, and was
urging Congress to do something to allay them, when he received a letter
from Colonel Lewis Nicola, a veteran and well-bred officer of the
Pennsylvania line, which filled him with the greatest apprehensions. In
it Nicola, no doubt, spoke the sentiments of a great many of his
fellow-officers and soldiers at that time. He attributed all current
evils, and those in anticipation, to the existing form of government,
and then urged the necessity and expediency of adopting a mixed one like
that of England. Having fortified his position by argument, Nicola
added:--
"In this case it will, I believe, be uncontroverted, that the same
abilities which have led us through difficulties apparently
unsurmountable by human power to victory and glory--those
qualities, that have merited and obtained the universal esteem and
veneration of an army--would be most likely to conduct and direct
us in the smoother paths of peace. Some people have so connected
the ideas of tyranny and monarchy as to find it very difficult to
separate them. It may, therefore, be requisite to give the head of
such a constitution as I propose some title apparently more
moderate; but, if all other things were once adjusted, I believe
strong arguments might be produced for admitting the title of
KING, which I conceive would be attended with some national
advantage."
How little did even Nicola, who was very intimate with Washington,
comprehend the true character of his disinterested patriotism in all its
breadth and depth! The commander-in-chief perceived that Nicola was only
the organ of a dangerous military faction, whose object was to create a
new government through the active energies of the army, and to place
their present leader at the head. He sympathized with the army in its
distresses, but this movement met with his severest rebuke.
"_Sir_," said Washington, in a responsive letter to Nicola, "With a
mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with attention
the sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, sir, no
occurrence in the course of this war has given me more painful
sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in
the army as you have expressed, and which I must view with abhorrence
and reprehend with severity. For the present, the communication of them
will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter
shall make a disclosure necessary. I am much at a loss to conceive what
part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to
me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If
I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a
person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in
justice to my own feelings, I must add, that no man possesses a more
serious wish to see ample justice done to the army than I do; and, as
far as my power and influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they
shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should
there be any occasion. Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard
for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me,
to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from
yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature. I am, etc."
This stern rebuke at once silenced the faction, and checked all further
movement in the direction of king-making. How brightly did the
patriotism of Washington shine out in this affair! At the head of a
victorious army; beloved and venerated by it and by the people; with
personal influence unbounded, and with power in possession for
consummating almost any political scheme not apparently derogatory to
good government, he receives from an officer whom he greatly esteems,
and who speaks for himself and others, an offer of the sceptre of
supreme rule and the crown of royalty! What a bribe! Yet he does not
hesitate for a moment; he does not stop to revolve in his mind any ideas
of advantage in the proposed scheme, but at once rebukes the author
sternly but kindly, and impresses his signet of strongest disapprobation
upon the proposal. History can not present a parallel.
The summer of 1782 passed away without much apparent progress being made
toward a definite and permanent arrangement for peace. At the beginning
of August, Carleton and Digby wrote a joint letter to Washington,
informing him that they had good authority for saying, that negotiations
for peace had been commenced at Paris, by commissioners, and that the
British representatives in that conference, would first propose the
independence of the United States as a basis. But Washington, taught by
past experience, was still doubtful of the reality of all these
professions. "Jealousy and precaution," he said, "at least can do no
harm. Too much confidence and supineness may be pernicious in the
extreme."
No wonder he still doubted. The British government had not yet made any
offer for a general cessation of hostilities. The Americans had allies
whose interests must be consulted. Hostilities might cease in the United
States, according to recent enactments of Parliament, but the very
forces then on our shores, might be sent to make war upon the French
dominions in the West Indies. The public faith required that the
interests of France should be considered in the negotiations for peace;
and until a cessation of general hostilities should be officially
proclaimed by Great Britain, Washington resolved to be prepared for a
renewal of the war.
Thus viewing affairs, the commander-in-chief advised Rochambeau, who was
then (August, 1782) at Baltimore, to march his troops to the banks of
the Hudson, and form a junction with the American army. This was
accomplished at the middle of September, the first division of the
French army crossing the Hudson at King's ferry on the fifteenth. The
American forces were at Verplanck's Point, opposite, to receive them,
all arranged in their best attire, their tents decked with evergreens,
and their bands playing French marches.
In the meantime British troops had been leaving the southern shores of
the United States, and others were preparing to depart. They evacuated
Savannah on the eleventh of July, and sailed for New York, when the
"keys of the city of Savannah" were delivered to Major Jackson, by a
committee of British officers, under the direction of General Wayne. On
the same day the American army, led by Wayne, entered the city, and
royal authority in every form ceased for ever in Georgia.
General Leslie, the British commander at Charleston, was not in a
condition to leave on account of a want of provisions. When he was
apprized of the proceedings in Parliament in favor of peace, he proposed
to General Greene a cessation of hostilities. Like a true soldier,
Greene took no such responsibility, but referred the whole matter to
Congress, while relaxing not one whit of his vigilance. Leslie then
asked permission to purchase supplies for his army, that he might
evacuate Charleston. The wary Greene refused to allow it, for in so
doing he might be nourishing a viper that would sting him.
Leslie then resorted to force to obtain supplies; and late in August he
sent an expedition up the Combahee for the purpose. General Gist, with
some Maryland troops, was there to oppose him, and the British were
compelled to retreat to Charleston. In the skirmish that ensued, the
noble Colonel John Laurens, who had volunteered in the service, was
killed. He was mourned by all as a great public loss; and his was about
the last blood that flowed in the War for Independence.[1]
On the fourteenth of December following, the British evacuated
Charleston, and on the ensuing day the Americans, under General Greene,
marched into the city and took possession. He and his army were greeted
as deliverers. From the windows, balconies, and housetops, handkerchiefs
waved, and the mingled voices of women and children shouted, "God bless
you, gentlemen! Welcome! Welcome!" That evening the last hostile sail
was seen beyond Charleston bar, as a white speck upon the horizon. At
the close of the year only New York city was held in possession by
British troops.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] John Laurens was a son of Henry Laurens, president of the
continental Congress in 1777. He joined the army early in 1777, and was
wounded in the battle of Germantown. He continued in the army (with the
exception of a few months), under the immediate command of Washington,
until after the surrender of Cornwallis, in which event he was a
conspicuous participant as one of the commissioners appointed to arrange
the terms. Early in 1781, he was sent on a special mission to France to
solicit a loan of money and to procure arms. He was successful, and on
his return received the thanks of Congress. Within three days after his
arrival in Philadelphia, he had settled all matters with Congress, and
departed for the army in the South under Greene. There he did good
service, until his death, on the Combahee, on the twenty-seventh of
August, 1782, when he was but twenty-nine years of age. Washington, who
made him his aid, loved him as a child. He declared that he could
discover no fault in him, unless it was intrepidity, bordering on
rashness. "Poor Laurens," wrote Greene, "has fallen in a paltry little
skirmish. You knew his temper, and I predicted his fate. The love of
military glory made him seek it upon occasions unworthy his rank. The
state will feel his loss." He was buried upon the plantation of Mrs.
Stock, in whose family he spent the evening previous to his death in
cheerful conversation. A small enclosure, without a stone, marks his
grave.